performance of dynamic vs. static SQL

Currently, our SQL statements are strings (generated by Tcl code) that are "prepared" by the Oracle server before being executed. This is called dynamic SQL, right?

1. Will the performance of our application improve if we skip one step by having our SQL statements prepared in advance (like the precompile step when using embedded SQL in a compiled host language)? How?
2. Is this "static" SQL?
3. Is that the same as PL-SQL?
4. How do we supply variables to the pre-compiled SQL statements?
5. Do the precompiled statements reside on the client or on the server?

Regards, Michiel

-- 
Michiel Perdeck


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