This is the written version of a lesson from my SQL Course, in which I show how to use the FIRST and LAST functions. Like some other functions you probably know, these functions can be used either as aggregate functions… Continue Reading
I recently received a question about Pairwise Subqueries from one of the students in my SQL course, and I thought it would be a good idea to make my answer a blog post, since I did a couple of Google… Continue Reading
I decided to write this article because the question keeps being asked, and I usually find myself explaining my answer again and again and/or looking for links to someone else’s articles that can help support my answer. Here I discuss… Continue Reading
I’m writing this post as a contribution to the OTN appreciation day because I think Tim Hall’s idea was awesome. If I have to choose the feature I like and enjoy the most, it has to be the power of… Continue Reading
Ranking functions are some of the most commonly used analytic functions, and although the “ranking” category can quickly make you think about Top-N queries, that is actually not the only type of problems you can solve with them. In this… Continue Reading
I decided to write about the Pivot and Unpivot clauses, because I find them very useful and powerful. In this article I will try to explain how they are used and show you some examples of the things you can… Continue Reading
Analytic functions in Oracle SQL are very useful and are utilized by many people, but sometimes without completely understanding how they work or what data they operate on. This article does not focus on a specific function, but on analytic… Continue Reading
One of the most basic tasks you need to perform when tuning SQL statements is determining the causes of the performance problem, and to do that, you will most likely need to analyze the execution plan of the problematic statement.… Continue Reading
I decided to write about Top-N queries today because even though there are lots of articles and documentation about the correct way to do it in Oracle out there, I have seen this question asked on different forums, and to… Continue Reading
CASE expressions are the standard way to implement IF … THEN … ELSE logic in SQL statements. Oracle provides the DECODE function, which does something similar and is widely used by Oracle developers, but CASE expressions are actually more flexible… Continue Reading