Re: Oracle versus MS Sql Server

I know the MS mantras. I also know realities. OLE DB is a MS api to attempt to access "all databases", but in fact they don't care about any non-ms databases. They have written it in a very specific MS fashion. Look at all the "universal" ways MS has come up with accessing data: ODBC,OLE,ADO,DAO,Jet, dblib,ect. But I think you miss Thomas Kyte's point. Just because you use a specific API (even a "universal" one) does not mean it will work the same for every database.

In a prior job we had to hook up an application development environment (like VB, but it existed prior to VB - and prior to the existence of ODBC and ran on Windows 3) to 9 different commercial RDBMS databases (e.g. Oracle 6, 7, Ingress, XDB, DB2,SQLBase, SQLServer et al) . As a rule we could develop a driver that sat between the application developer and the database using the native API of the database in under 30 days. That's complete from ground up, write and test and deploy into a development environment for developers to use. The exception of course was SQL Server. That driver took 8 rewrites and 9 months to get to an acceptable level. Why? They did so much that was so different from everyone else. The database acted so different. In addition, even though we presented the same API to developers the developers still had to be aware of differences in concurrency. For example, they would select some data and no one on DB2 would be able to compile their Cobol programs and bind them to the database until the person who issued a select statement issued a commit! Ouch!

If you are using Ms's OLE DB then you aren't using host variables because they don't have the concept in MS land. (and string substitition in a "parameterized query" is not a host variable.)

You need to gain more knowledge and then you will understand that there is so much more to learn.
Jim

"Michael G. Schneider" <mgs_at_mgs-software.de> wrote in message news:9rf3c1$tri$07$1_at_news.t-online.com...
> "Jim Kennedy" <kennedy-family_at_home.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:7DDC7.2056$ib.1262380_at_news1.sttln1.wa.home.com...
>
> > That's probably your problem. If you don't know what host variables are
> > then you aren't using them. You need to enlighten yourself and read the
> > Oracle application developer's guide. If you purchased Oracle in your
> > native language then that documentation should be in your language.
(Thus
> > making reading the documentation easier.) If you want to use an OLE
type
> > interface then look at Oracle's OLE objects. It allows you to use host
> > variables and even gives you some pointers at how to increase the
> > performance and scalability of the application. The OLE/DB interface
you
> > are currently using is a Microsoft specification and is slanted towards
MS
> > SQLServer and thus does not include the Oracle optimizations.
>
> Which of my statements made you believe that I do not know what host
> variables are or that I did not use them? In my last post I said "I do not
> quite understand, what made you guess this.". My English is not perfect
but
> this does not mean
>
> - I do not understand your question
> - I do not know what host variables are
>
> but instead it means
>
> - why do you think I don't know this
>
> Until now, I have not yet realized that MS OLE/DB is slanted to any
specific
> database system. I would be happy if you gave a concrete example for this.
> Something which is indeed directed at a certain database is the OLE/DB
> Provider. Actually it is not only directed at a certain database, it is
> created for exactly one data source. Of course there are OLE/DB Providers
> for Oracle, too. I think with the 8.1.x release, also Oracle released an
own
> Oracle OLE/DB Provider.
>
> Think of OLE/DB as a framework, into which many data providers can be
> plugged into. OLE/DB is so universal, that you can work with MS SQL
Server,
> Oracle, MS Active Directory and many more.
>
> Michael G. Schneider
>
>
Received on Sat Oct 27 2001 - 15:29:03 CDT