Tom Kyte is a Senior Technical Architect in Oracle’s Server Technology Division. Before starting at Oracle, Kyte worked as a systems integrator building large-scale, heterogeneous databases and applications, mostly for military and government customers. Kyte spends a great deal of time working with the Oracle database and, more specifically, working with people who are working with the Oracle database. In addition, Kyte is the Tom behind the AskTom column in Oracle Magazine, answering people's questions about the Oracle database and its tools (http://asktom.oracle.com/). Kyte is also the author of Expert Oracle Database Architecture (Apress, 2005), Expert One on One Oracle(Wrox Press, 2001/Apress 2004), Beginning Oracle Programing (Wrox press, 2002/Apress 2004), and Effective Oracle by Design (Oracle Press, 2003). These are books about the general use of the database and how to develop successful Oracle applications