. . . Or making the complex simpler.
Following on from my previous post, Analytic Functions are powerful tools for performing complex operations in a more compact and efficient query, but they are not appropriate for all occassions. They have nuances which require more delicacy than simply using brute querying force to perform a complex task and therefore it is important to understand them properly in order to apply them correctly so as to get the required result. Whilst no expert by a long shot, this much I have learnt so far through painful trial and error and some pretty tedious manual comparisons of result sets of various attempts at applying analytic functions compared with the traditional approach of queries with sub-queries, joins and self-joins.
For anyone seeking to understand Analytic Functions more, the following sites may be useful:
Akadia
Oracle FAQs
ADP
Good luck,
James