title: Connecting to Oracle database using cx_Oracle on Python
body: <p>Am using Debian 5, Python 2.5 with cx_Oracle unicode version installed. I try to connect using the below script but its failing</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; connection = cx_Oracle.connect('hr/XXXXX@local_xe')
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "&lt;stdin&gt;", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
  TypeError: argument 1 must be unicode, not str
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I think because the cx_Oracle installed is a unicode version, its asking me to specify the unicode as first parameter. but, Its not taking strings and I don't know what I could supply else?</p>