Beginning Oracle® Application Express

Foreword

My name is David Peake, and I am a true believer in Oracle Application Express.

As principal product manager for Oracle Application Express, I devote countless hours of my working life to this product, reveling in its virtues and trying to constantly improve its breadth and reach. Even with this involvement, not a week goes by when I don't hear of someone using this product in a way that stretches my concept of its capabilities.

But the one thing that has dogged my involvement with APEX from the beginning is the misleading impression that the mere label of "Oracle" attached to the product means that APEX must be far too complex for mere mortals. Nothing could be further from the truth; Oracle products are becoming easier for everyone to use and attain the best results with. From installing and managing the Oracle database right through to development tools such as APEX, SQL Developer, and JDeveloper, we have made great strides in making Oracle easier to learn and become proficient in, so that you can concentrate on exceeding your business requirements.

That's why I was excited to hear that Rick Greenwald was going to be writing a book introducing APEX to the broader community of developers. Rick has a terrific ability to place even sophisticated technology issues in an easy-to-understand framework, which he has done admirably with the volume you are holding. Irrespective of your experience, even if you have never used Oracle before, you should find this book easy to follow. ...