Oracle Apex at Qualogy
Published on: Author: Karizma Ilahi Category: NewsSullivan Kromosoeto has been with Qualogy for 5 years now, and currently fulfills the role of qualified analyst, developer and project manager. I interviewed him about Oracle Apex, the tool he uses the most in his job.
What is Apex?
Apex is an Oracle Rapid Application Development (RAD) Framework. It is increasingly being used to build applications, which store data in Oracle databases.
How do you use Apex at Qualogy?
At Qualogy, we use Apex for a lot of custom applications that we build for our customers. With it, we're able to build small business applications as well as large, enterprise-based applications.
If a customer were to come in today and ask for a salary management application, we could deliver this with Apex in a short period of time. This is one of the biggest reasons why Apex is my favorite tool. It's very quick.
What is your personal experience with the tooling?
I think Apex is one of the best tools Oracle has to offer. It is very well suited for all sorts of data-centric applications. And if you happen to get stuck on a certain issue, there is a very large community that can help you out.
This community includes the people who are developing Apex. All of this makes it very pleasant to work with. Because it is Oracle database driven, it's easier for me as an Oracle specialist to leverage my SQL and PL/SQL skills to design and develop software.
Personally, I like simplicity in application design and I believe this tool does a great job at it.
What are the biggest challenges for new Apex developers?
The biggest challenge is finding a workaround or solution to a requirement which is not supported by Apex out of the box.
This is where the big and helpful community comes in. When you’re really stuck in the development process, you can always ask for help. The community is always willing to lend a hand.
In the latest versions of Apex they added the ability to create and install plugins. This should help with the problem of not having every functionality out of the box. Most of these plugins are shared freely between developers.
What advice do you want to give to developers that want to start out in Apex?
Try to keep up with the constant improvements and releases in the framework. New features keep getting added constantly, so it's good practice to stay on top of these developments.
Also, make sure you get to learn the basics thoroughly and keep challenging yourself. The basic skills you should most definitely have are SQL, PL/SQL, CSS, JavaScript and HTML. These skills are the foundation you need to learn Apex.
