While the integration of a Java Virtual Machine into the Oracle database has provided a whole host of new opportunities and challenges to the Oracle developer and DBA, it has also provoked much debate as to when it makes sense to exploit this feature. This book clearly demonstrates many practical, real-world applications that developers can put to immediate use in their day-to-day jobs. With Java and Oracle, the developer can now compress LOBs, use multicast sockets to automatically alert clients when data has changed, and run an FTP Java client in the database, to name but a few of the examples covered here. In addition, this book gives in-depth consideration to the question of when it is appropriate to use Java from a performance perspective, including benchmarks. Who is this book for? This book is for experienced Oracle developers looking to exploit Java. It will be of interest to DBAs who need to know how Java is likely to be used inside the database and how this affects them, and also to Java developers looking to apply their knowledge in the Oracle database. Knowledge of SQL, PL/SQL, and Oracle architecture is assumed. If you are relatively new to Java, then the explanations in the text should allow you to grasp all of the fundamental issues discussed. This book is ideal for an Oracle developer migrating from C to Java. What does this book cover? Java messaging and image generation utilities; Solutions using PL/SQL and Java together; Use of operating system resources; Java application performance; Benchmarks for SQL execution in PL/SQL and Java; Oracle JDBC and SQLJ; A Java tutorial for PL/SQL programmers.