Oracle PL/SQL Programming: Guide to Oracle8i Features

By Steven Feuerstein

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The insect on the cover of Oracle PL/SQL Programming: Guide to Oracle8i Features is a luna moth. One of the 100,000 species of moth, the luna moth (Actius luna) is found only in North America. The pale green color and delicate swirled tails of its wings make the luna moth one of the loveliest species of moth.

Like the wings of all moths, the luna moth's wings are covered with tiny, flattened, overlapping scales . The two pairs of wings move in tandem and operate as a single pair. When resting, these wings are spread open , unlike the butterfly 's wings, which fold closed in rest. The eye spots on the luna moth's wings are intended to frighten away potential predators.

The adult luna moth has a very short lifespan-approximately one week. During that short life, adult luna moths do not eat at all; they get all of their nourishment during the caterpillar stage. Luna moth caterpillars feed on tree leaves , and tend not to be very picky about what kind of tree.

Although rarely sighted, the beautiful luna moth is not currently listed on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Endangered Species List.

Madeleine Newell was the production editor for this book, and Cindy Kogut of Editorial Ink was the copyeditor. Ellie Cutler and Nancy Kotary provided quality assurance, and Jeff Holcomb and Abby Myers provided production assistance. Pamela Murray wrote the index.

Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book, using a nineteenth-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Kathleen Wilson produced the cover layout and designed and produced the diskette label with QuarkXPress 3.3, using the ITC Garamond font.

The inside layout was designed by Alicia Cech, based on a series design by Nancy Priest, and implemented in FrameMaker 5.5 by Mike Sierra. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. The illustrations that appear in this book were produced by Robert Romano and Rhon Porter using Macromedia Freehand 8 and Adobe Photoshop 5. This colophon was written by Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary.

The online edition of this book was created by the Safari production group (John Chodacki, Becki Maisch, and Madeleine Newell) using a set of Frame-to-XML conversion and cleanup tools written and maintained by Erik Ray, Benn Salter, John Chodacki, and Jeff Liggett.