Optimizing SQL code is the #1 factor in improving Oracle database performance. Yet most guides to Oracle tuning virtually ignore SQL. Until now. Oracle SQL High-Performance Tuning zeroes in on SQL, showing how to achieve performance gains of 100% or more in many applications. Expert Oracle developer Guy Harrison presents a detailed overview of SQL processing, and then introduces SQL tuning guidelines that improve virtually any application. As databases grow, and ad hoc queries to data warehouses increase, optimizing SQL becomes even more critical. Harrison offers practical guidance on using Oracle's parallel query facility for large-volume queries, and shows when to use Oracle's PL/SQL instead of standard SQL. The book is replete with examples, showing poorly tuned SQL, how to fix it - and specific performance measurements collected on a wide range of computer hardware, from high-end UNIX SMP hosts to 486 laptops running Personal Oracle.