Re: Oracle Magazine Blooper

From: Daniel Morgan <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu>
Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 22:54:03 -0700
Message-ID: <1084168443.46845@yasure>

Niall Litchfield wrote:

> "Daniel Morgan" <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu> wrote in message
> news:1084113115.36012_at_yasure...
>

>>Serge Rielau wrote:
>>
>>
>>>In defense of examples it always depends on what you want to show.
>>>I for one find it very hard to find examples that show consicely how a
>>>given feature works and at the same time make sense and are good style.
>>>E.g. a good way to explain a WHILE loop is to code a SUM or COUNT, but
>>>who in his right mind would do that proceduraly?
>>>
>>>Cheers
>>>Serge
>>>
>>
>>The demo I use is:
>>
>>DECLARE
>>
>>i PLS_INTEGER := 999;
>>
>>BEGIN
>>   WHILE i < 1100
>>   LOOP
>>     i := i + 1;
>>     INSERT INTO loop_test VALUES (i);
>>   END LOOP;
>>   COMMIT;
>>END;
>>/
>>
>>I think it makes the point.

>
>
> But as with Serge's point, I don't think I'd do that either. I'd write
>
> BEGIN
> for i in 1..1100 loop
> insert into loop_test values(i);
> end loop;
> end;
> /
>
> for the demo or perhaps even better
>
> insert into loop_test
> select rownum from all_objects where rownum <= 1100;
> commit;
>
> :(

Of course you would ... but the point of the post I was responding to was a 'WHILE' loop. A 'FOR' loop is not a 'WHILE' loop so it does not demonstrate the syntax. It does, however, confuse the student. ;-)

-- 
Daniel Morgan
http://www.outreach.washington.edu/ext/certificates/oad/oad_crs.asp
http://www.outreach.washington.edu/ext/certificates/aoa/aoa_crs.asp
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace 'x' with a 'u' to reply)

Received on Mon May 10 2004 - 00:54:03 CDT