The newest version of the Oracle DBMS, Oracle8, offers some dramatically different features from previous versions, including better scalability, reliability, and security; an object-relational model; additional datatypes; and much more. To get peak performance out of an Oracle8 system, databases and code need to be designed with these new features in mind. This short book tells Oracle designers and developers just what they need to know to use the Oracle8 features to best advantage. It's a companion to Oracle Design, which describes the full range of issues for database and code design. Virtually all of the advice in the original book is still on target (regardless of what version of Oracle you are running). This mini-book updates that advice to tell you how to capitalize on the latest Oracle8 features and on Oracle's new object-relational model. It summarizes the new Oracle8 features that have an impact on design; discusses what methodologies are best for development in an object-oriented environment; provides a summary of design hints for using features that support very large databases; looks generally at the object-oriented technology; and surveys the use of tools like Sedona, Developer/2000, Designer/2000, Object Designer, SQL*Plus, C/C++, and Java with Oracle8.