Chapter 3. Oracle Database Objects
In Chapter 2, we described the Oracle operating system files — the physical files that are particularly important to Oracle security. This chapter looks at the internal Oracle components that are accessible only after the database is started. In contrast to the external components, which are individual data files, these components cannot be physically “touched” or identified from outside the database. They exist as components within the large operating system files created for Oracle. They contain the objects and the data dictionary. You can manipulate these components, but only by using the SQL language.
The User Interface: User Versus Schema
In May, 1998 at the Mid-Atlantic Association of Oracle Professionals’ spring conference, one of the sessions played a game of trivia during which many questions about Oracle were asked. One of the “stumper” questions was this: “What was the forerunner of the SQL*Plus language called?” The answer, in case you ever end up in a trivia game yourself, is UFI — User Friendly Interface. UFI was an early SQL command interpreter. The DBA would use UFI to create users much as they would use SQL today. Users would log in to the database via UFI. The DBA could also give the user enough privileges to create tables and other objects. SQL has since become the standard language for manipulating data in modern relational databases.
Just as the SQL name has changed over time, so has other nomenclature. For example, let’s look ...
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