Oracle SQL Developer is a free graphical tool for database development.

SQL Developer 1.0 release in March 2006

The initial release, in March 2006, provided users with a graphical interface to interact with database objects by providing the ability to browse the database, run SQL, PL/SQL and SQL*Plus statements, execute SQL scripts, and edit and debug PL/SQL statements. This initial release also provide a suite of reports to further interrogate the dictionary. SQL Developer 1.0 was quickly followed by 2 patch releases and the SQL Developer 1.1 in December 2006.

Oracle SQL Developer 1.1 release in December 2006

The main goal of SQL Developer 1.1 was to bring file-based PL/SQL Editing to the user base, while also broadening the general offering of the tool.

Oracle SQL Developer 1.2 release in June 2007

Oracle SQL Developer 1.2 is known as the “Migration Release”. This latest release of SQL Developer includes the Developer Migration Workbench, a new, redeveloped tool that greatly extends the functionality and usability offered by the original Oracle Migration Workbench. Its tight integration with SQL Developer provides users with a single point to browse database objects and data in third party databases, and to migrate from these databases to Oracle.

Additionally SQL Developer 1.2 includes support for Oracle Application Express 3.0.1(Oracle APEX)

Here is the list of bug fixes and here is the release notes document including new features and known issues.

If you are already running production release 1.1 (v 1.1.0.23.64) or above, you can use Help > Check for Updates to update your SQL Developer environment. Otherwise, you can download Oracle SQL Developer 1.2 from here.