Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal on the cover of Oracle SQLPlus: The Definitive Guide , Second Edition is a moving leaf (Phyllium giganteum), a large (about 10 cm in length) Malaysian leaf insect related to stickinsects; together these constitute the order Phasmatida, derived from the Greekword for "ghost." These stunning insects imitate local foliage with intricate detail, down to the leaf-like veins on their legs and tattered brown edges to mimic dead leaves. Moving leaf insects feed on bramble and other plant material. Kept by many entymologists as exotic pets, they require high temperature and humidity. Matt Hutchinson was the production editor for Oracle SQLPlus: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition. GEX, Inc. provided production services. Darren Kelly and Marlowe Shaeffer provided quality control.

Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Clay Fernald produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This bookwas converted by Julie Hawks to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS (except for Figure 4-1, which was provided by Matt Williams). The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Nancy Kotary.