create global temporary table t(x number not null);
insert into t(x) values (:b1);
insert into t(x) values (:b2);
...
insert into t(x) values (:b9999);
select foo from bar where c not in (select x from t);

If you want to however do this in one query you can still use AND

SQL> select foo from bar where c not in (
:b1,
:b2,
...
:b9999);
*
ERROR at line 1002:
ORA-01795: maximum number of expressions in a list is 1000

SQL> select foo from bar where 
c!=:b1 and
c!=:b2 and
...
c!=:b9999;

FOO
---
foo

Translate c NOT IN (exprlist) into c!=expr1 and c!=expr2…
Translate c IN (exprlist) into c=expr1 or c=expr2…

If you use dynamic expression list, this will bypass the ORA-01795 error

A bunch of Oracle blogger received a free online version of the book with the task to write a review.

I have read a few chapters and here are my general comments.

+ The picture on the book is very nice, not related to SQL Developer, but shot by Sue .

- There is no chapter on unit testing, which is one of the newest feature of SQL Developer. It is not very mature yet, but it is a good addition and free.

+ The book is not a marketing joke, the positioning against tool like TOAD is quite the way I see it.
page 1: The skeptics mentioned are ever concerned that Oracle is not really interested in the product,
backing up this concern with the fact that SQL Developer is free.

+ Even as a sqlplus/sh fanatic I did not feel ignored
page 6: We’re aware that you’ll never fully move from the command-line

- If you are a bit of a gray hair security admin you will be shocked by statements like page 21: create a connection for SYSTEM and page 22: Select the Save Password checkbox. This makes life easy. Hmm, do you give SYSTEM access to your developers and do your security policies recommend/allow them to save the password locally?

+ Still SQL Developer is good tool and it is driven by community. Save password is no longer the default (an old thread). You can post your own suggestions like Use Wallet for Logins to the SQL Developer Exchange.

+ There are plenty of good features in this tool and the book covers them. I like reports for instance.

= The book is still a book about click-click-click. Most of my readers here know how to drag and drop and resize windows.

PS: if it was not obvious in my comments, yes I do like this book!

This week-end I downloaded for fun a try of db2, v9.7.
1) download db2 linux64bit trial on ibm.com
2) install enterprise edition (next-next-install principle)
3) create the instance
4) create the sample database (where database and instance means something different than in Oracle)

$ db2 create db test pagesize 32 k
$ db2 connect to test
$ db2 create user temporary tablespace temp
$ db2 connect reset

I tried a few examples from my book. Left, full and cross join works, but not partitioned outer join.

Scalar, Inline and nested query works too.

Surprisely many function that I thought Oracle specific work too, like sysdate and to_char.

In aggegation, the KEEP FIRST/LAST does not work,
In Super aggregations, all GROUPING SETS, CUBE, ROLLUP do work.
No Pivot or Unpivot.

No dual, but a powerful TABLE function

SQL> select * from table(values(1),(2));       
          1
-----------
          1
          2

Analytics works, With range, rows, order by partition, all the fancy stuff.

I have not checked at XML, but it sounds to be differently implemented.
Some things will work however

SQL> select xmlquery('1 to 10') from dual;

1                   
--------------------
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

No CONNECT BY, but as in Oracle 11gR2, recursive query factoring does build the hierarchy

No Model, obviously.

But more will come.

The conference JavaOne will be in SanFrancisco with Oracle OpenWorld.

The Sun Developer Network and Bigadmin will be integrated in OTN.

Welcome Sun Developers Ensuring community continuity

MySql and java.sun.com have the Oracle logo.

That was fast! Well, Oracle is quite used to acquisition, only this week they bought AmberPoint and Convergin.

Still MySQL strategy will probably change, I cannot believe Oracle will encourage the users to save millions on Oracle License by migrating to MySQL
http://www.mysql.com/products/enterprise/unlimited.html

select column_name, data_type, data_length 
from user_tab_columns 
where table_name='V';
COLUMN_NAME     DATA_TYPE            DATA_LENGTH
--------------- -------------------- -----------
X               VARCHAR2                       0

What’s this datatype? It is the datatype of NULL !!!

SQL> create or replace view v as select null x from dual
View created.
SQL> desc v
VIEW v
 Name              Null?    Type        
 ----------------- -------- ------------
 X                          VARCHAR2(0) 

Still MySQL founder Monty Widenius wants to have Russia and China reject the deal to save the future of MySQL… This will delay the deals further. Good for IBM, bad for Oracle !

I posted last year about 1!=1

Today I realized this could be solved with the scale

SQL> drop table lsc_t
Table dropped.
SQL> create table lsc_t(x number, y number(*,6))
Table created.
SQL> insert into lsc_t values (1/3*3,1/3*3)
1 row created.
SQL> commit
Commit complete.
SQL> select * from lsc_t where x=1
no rows selected.
SQL> select * from lsc_t where y=1

         X          Y
---------- ----------
1.00000000          1

So if you have amounts in US$ or GB£ or CHF, do not use NUMBER, use NUMBER(*,6) or NUMBER(*,2) or whatever is relevant to your business!

Ok, the last hint from my dba regarding Oracle Support :

If flash really drives you nuts, go for html : supporthtml.oracle.com

Still Oracle is suffering with European Union Commission who is still blocking the Sun deal.

google news about the deal