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Home -> Community -> Mailing Lists -> Oracle-L -> RE: Recursive Function
Jared,
From an old 'C' and Pascal programming dinosaur:
While I was working in an R&D department two decades ago, coding low-level IO-functions on proprietary databases and SW-development tools, I learned that passing variables 'by reference' (in/out in PL/SQL) was cheaper, because the value didn't need to be pushed on the stack, but just a referring pointer, which was less bytes most of the times. But those days switching of boundary checks in the (USCD-P) compiler caused a significant gain in performance.
What I particularly like to do is passing results (error-codes) back through the function, whilst the result of the function itself is passed through the variables. Of course raising exceptions is the mechanism for that now, so my way of working might be somewhat old-fashioned. Unskyld.
However, when I've got some spare time I would like to test whether passing by reference is cheaper in PL/SQL as well, especially when using huge variables to a procedure and/or function. Of course this depends on the calling mechanism that Oracle implemented in its PL/SQL engine. Maybe some insider, e.g. Steve Adams, can disclose a clue about this?
Regards, Carel-Jan
===
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. (Derek Bok)
===
At 06:36 PM 5/9/2004, you wrote:
>On Sun, 2004-05-09 at 07:12, Jamadagni, Rajendra wrote:
> > In oracle functions you can have in/out parameters to a Function ... It
> > is perfectly legal, but we are not *taught* that way ... That is the
> > problem. No one *teaches* us to "think outside the box".
> >
>
>I've considered using in/out from a function, but
>then used a procedure instead.
>
>The idea of using a function to both return a value
>and modify its arguments seems like it would cause
>difficulty in following program flow.
>
>Maybe I just haven't encountered a situation where
>using this functionality would save the day.
>
>At the current rate with Sarbanes Oxley to greet
>me every day, I may never get the opportunity to
>find out. At least it feels that way by Friday.
>
>Jared
>
>
>
>
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===
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. (Derek Bok)
===
DBA!ert, Independent Oracle Consultancy
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-- Archives are at http://www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/ FAQ is at http://www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html -----------------------------------------------------------------Received on Sun May 09 2004 - 14:29:53 CDT
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