C -v- PL/SQL

I work at a shop that has a good percentage of C developer compared to the total number of developers. We are in the process of building some new enhancements to our system. These enhancements will be database oriented (connect from one database to another and perform this function which might alter a table, rebuild an index, run a report, put data in a table, remove data, etc...). The way I see it, any of these processes could be achieved by either writing them in C or PL/SQL.

The environment here is multi OS (HP, SUN, NT) and we have GUI code written in PB, Visual C++, VB and we are working on a browser based approach right now.

I'm looking for a list of Pros and Cons on the 2 languages. Here are some of the ones I see:

PL/SQL: Pros: 1) resides in the database therefore no OS porting issues; 2) resides in database so it's accessible to all programming languages corrently used (accessible to all currently written routines) 3) triggers and stored procedures

Cons: 1) Not as powerful as C
2) Learning curve (we have an investment in C while our usage of PL/SQL is much more high level)
3) Learning curve - all the 'Production Software' best practices that we know about C we do not know about PL/SQL.

C: Pros 1) Powerful
2) tends to be a cheaper skill set to hire. 3) we have several C developers and have been using it for a number of years

Cons: 1) platform dependency issues
2) I know Oracle is starting to allow C to be called from stored procedure but I get the feeling that this is relatively new and largely untested. 3) Not in the database so this will be more difficult (or impossible) to use in other modules written in (PB, Visual C++, VB etc..)

I'd appreciate any thoughts that would add or subtract to my list above. Again, we are trying to make some Product decisions and nailing this strategic issue is very important. Thanks for your input. Received on Sat May 30 1998 - 08:00:12 CDT