Two achievements recorded today:
Some time early this morning (GMT) the blog reach 500,000 visits. Not too bad for about 14 months – but still running at less than half the rate of the website.
Most popular page, with 6,100 views, is : Cartesian Merge Join pushing July’s Bind Variables posting with 5,900 views into second place in the popular posts rankings.
The other item – an email, also arriving very early in the morning – was the news from Apress that they are preparing another print-run of Cost Based Oracle – Fundamentals. (The email said it was the third run – but so did the email they sent around this time last year so I’m going to call it the fourth print run).
Wow, 500.000 visits, that’s a lot for a blog! You must have more than a million page views.
Congratulation! Also for your fourth print run. I have also a copy :-)
Patrick
Comment by Patrick Wolf — January 12, 2008 @ 10:25 am UTC Jan 12,2008
Dear Jonathan,
When will you plan to complete your second and third CBO books?
Regards,
Joe
Comment by Bunditj — January 12, 2008 @ 10:30 am UTC Jan 12,2008
Patrick,
My errors, that was 500,000 page views – the blog doesn’t track visits (although the website tracks file, pages, ip addresses so I was comparing blog views with website “unique visits”).
Bunditj,
I keep getting interrupted on the book – unfortunately people expect me to work for a living and fly around the world to do it. I think it’s going to turn into an ‘airport book’ at this rate – meaning written in airports.
Comment by Jonathan Lewis — January 14, 2008 @ 8:27 am UTC Jan 14,2008
500.000!!!
My blog is, more or less, 50…
Probably becasue is in italian…and it does not speak about Oracle but only music! ^_^
Bye,
Antonio
Comment by lascoltodelvenerdi — January 14, 2008 @ 10:13 am UTC Jan 14,2008
Congratulations for both achievements – I’m not surprised at all that your high-quality work is so much appreciated, even if I’m a bit surprised that so many people are interested in core technical matters …
If you don’t mind, I would be curious to know about your favourite posting – either the one that you enjoyed writing the most, or the one that you consider the “most relevant” of them all, or the most innovative … whatever the chosen metric, say the first one(s?) that pops up in your mind/hearth.
Comment by Alberto Dell'Era — January 14, 2008 @ 8:19 pm UTC Jan 14,2008
Alberto,
Thanks for the comment.
Interesting question – I’ll have to review the posts to find that out. Currently there are about 180 on the blog, and I know that there were a couple which felt particularly good when I wrote them. The trouble is, I can’t remember which they were.
It would certainly be interesting to hear the readers’ choice of most useful.
Comment by Jonathan Lewis — January 14, 2008 @ 10:44 pm UTC Jan 14,2008
A favorite of mine is the “Web Presentation”:
http://jonathanlewis.wordpress.com/2007/03/05/web-presentation/
which is a terrific way to deliver information – it combines the strengths of a presentation (voice that highlights the important points and gives a “rhythm” to the information flow) with some of the strengths of a book (especially – that you can go back and re-read and clarify a previous point).
Putting that “one of a kind” posting aside, I did enjoy all the postings about “subqueries”, and those that discuss “merging”, “unnesting”, “qb names” and so on (basically every one about the CBO).
But in general, I enjoy the variety of topics – looking at Oracle from different angles, each viewpoint (topic, example) improving my overall “mental model” of Oracle.
Comment by Alberto Dell'Era — January 15, 2008 @ 12:33 am UTC Jan 15,2008
I think that Practical Oracle 8i is the best Oracle book ever. CBO Fundamentals is a close second.
So I am sure your next CBO book will be worth the wait !
I was hoping that you will have a session in OOW 2007 (SFO) :-(
Comment by Krish — January 15, 2008 @ 4:37 am UTC Jan 15,2008
Krish, thanks for the comments. I have to say that I am surprised how often I see a question about how best to use a feature and think “the answer’s in the 8i book” – partitioning is a particularly good example, even though the book is now seven years old !
Sorry about OW – I get about 20 invitations each year to do something in the USA, but it’s a long way to go and the return journey alone takes out two days so I have to be very selective. I’ll be at RMOUG and PSOUG this year – I’ve got IOUG (Collaborate) and OW pencilled in for next year – but can’t make any promises.
Comment by Jonathan Lewis — January 15, 2008 @ 4:52 pm UTC Jan 15,2008
Congratulations, Jonathan on another printing of CBO. It is an excellent book. I’m so happy that I have a copy in my office and at home. And all of us look forward to the volumes to come!
Comment by Carol D — January 24, 2008 @ 6:21 pm UTC Jan 24,2008