It might not have all the bells and whistles as in Toad, but it is enough for learning the database. This might not be ideal for you if you want to learn the SQL commands.Īs the previous posters pointed out, Oracle SQL developer is free alternative for Toad. Eg, creating a table can be UI driven with the tool creating underlying SQL so you need not worry about the syntax. It can hide a lot of things behind UIs making it easier for you to do database related jobs. when I used Toad it had all the tools to make my database development easier. Toad for Oracle, Toad for mySql etc, so in your case you have to use the database for which your Toad software is compatible with. From what I see, the Toad software itself differs for each database product. I've used Oracle's database only so far and I am not sure about others. You can install the light version of Oracle's database on your system and connect to it. So it could be a database on the network or a database available in your local system. You need to connect to a database to start with. As a side project for self-improving is admirable, but - as you described yourself - you'll hit the wall on every step. If you want to work with Oracle Database as a developer, I highly recommend to do it the right way: go through basic Oracle SQL training courses, read about it, etc. to the instance via a configured client or other methods (jdbc, etc.), make yourself a work schema, create tables, indexes, etc. Then you can connect with TOAD, sqlplus, SQL Developer, Access/Excel, etc. Also, for practice, you'll need an installed and working database instance for doing anything with Oracle RDBMS and SQL (for home purposes Oracle XE is recommended). You have to learn on their specifics on databases, instances, schemas, database objects, etc., at least a bit of everything (an Oracle database is structurally and logically somewhat different from other RDBMSs, like MS-SQL or MySQL).

There're a lot of them, Oracle Database is just one (but it is their flagship product as in common language 'Oracle' is often means their RDBMS). After that, you can focus on Oracle products. I think, first you have to learn about the basics of client-server architecture, then about the modern relational-based database systems or RDBMSs (both are Oracle independent thing). It isn't necessary at all for Oracle SQL and/or databases.

A powerful (and very expensive) one, but it isn't 'Oracle'. TOAD is just a tool, an utility software, mainly for database administration tasks, not for programming (can be use to that too, but SQL Developer could be a bit better, for example).

Toad database software