Python and cx_oracle

I decided to start futzing with Python and Oracle. I generally use perl for most everything, and sometimes php for web based things, but I wanted to try Python at the urging of colleagues. I downloaded the source from here and added in cx_Oracle from here. The installation on linux was about as smooth as possible. I installed the source @ ~oracle/python so I could keep a user space version of Python. This is similar to how I generally install perl. So I created my first application using Python, select * from dual;. No big deal, but wow, Python is a pretty straightforward language. Here are some resources for Oracle based code:

• IOUG Paper
• The Oracle Docs

The docs and code examples are pretty slim for Oracle, but I supposed that to be expected as the language and it’s use with Oracle expands over time. Here is an example of the hello world app: 

#!/home/kgorman/python/bin/python
import cx_Oracle
handle = cx_Oracle.connect('scott/tiger@test')
curs = handle.cursor()
sql = """ select * from dual """
curs.execute(sql)
row = curs.fetchone()
print row[0]
curs.close()