Re: Oracle8's new features - what are they

Akmal B Chaudhri wrote:
>
> On Thu, 22 May 1997, Joshua Duhl wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
> > >
> > > I agree that it's very sad that polymorphism and inheritance is not supported in
> > > 8.0, but please don't overlook the user-defined object types with properties
> > > (can be other object types as well) and methods.
> >
> > Whoa there... there ain't no "object types" they're just
> > abstract data types. Big difference.
>
> Sorry Josh, I'm missing something here. Do you mean types/classes vs.
> ADTs?

Yes. I'm making the distinction between classes and types. Abstract data types allows users of Oracle 8 to go beyond the simple data types that previous versions supported and define new user defined types which can be used as the value of columns. However these are not "classes" in the object sense lacking most of the expected notions (inheritance, encapsulation, methods) that one would expect in a class.

> And I don't see
> > where you get the "methods" from. Where's the encapsulation?
>
> Couldn't stored procedures be considered a _form_ of encapsulation?

Well I guess you could say they are a "form" of methods and support a limited notion of encapsulation but only in the most losest of senses for both. Stored procedures are not strictly associated with a type. They are associated with a table or multiple tables. So they are not methods per se. Secondly, it may be possible to bypass a stored producedure to access data directly thus violating the fundamental notion of encapsulation.

> > Version 8 is no more OO than Version 7. It's focus is on
> > larger scale and some abstract data type support. But this
> > is a far, far cry from supporting objects. Supporting
> > inheritance is the biggest problem they have in supporting
> > objects.
 

> I've heard that Oracle Late (sorry 8 :-) ) does have support
> for single inheritance.

I have heard that it doesn't supports any inheritance. Many of the "object" features, including things like inheritance will not be in Oracle Late :-) but in Oracle 8.1 or later.

> > -- Joshua Duhl
> >
> > Just getting even with spammers:
> > postmaster_at_cyberpromo.com, postmaster_at_moonglow.com,....

<clipped>  

> I like this "get even with the spammers". If you don't mind, I'll paste
> these addresses onto my .sig as well :-)

Feel free. The more the merrier!

• Joshua Duhl

Just getting even with spammers: postmaster_at_cyberpromo.com, postmaster_at_moonglow.com, postoffice_at_mooglow.com, postmaster_at_savetrees.com, postmaster_at_hotmail.com, americom_at_mcsi.net, cash_at_fortune-wheel.com,

postmaster_at_fortune-wheel.com, accesstwo_at_industryone.net, 
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