In this book, references to methodology, performance diagnosis, and communication apply to all Oracle versions since Oracle 6. They are not affected by Oracle version changes. This is great news, because it allows a consistent and proven approach that spans time. And we'll use that to our advantage!

Core Oracle internal algorithms are covered up until the printing of this book. But don't let that stop you from enjoying and gleaning what this book has to offer. Most of the core Oracle algorithms that I present are so central to Oracle's interworkings that their relation to real-life production Oracle system performance analysis remains constant. Sure, you can find exceptions, but with 99.9% of Oracle performance issues, this is not the case. This book is focused on real systems, not laptop test cases designed just to make a point.

When the specific Oracle version affects the algorithms I present, I'll explain the differences among versions and how they affect our performance work. I think you'll find it very refreshing that to be a stellar performance analyst, you don't need to know every Oracle algorithm in every Oracle release.