Re: Oracle and Java. Does Oracle know something some of us don't?

rs_arwar_at_hotmail.com (Rauf Sarwar) writes:

> I hate to start another thread on this but I could not resist.
>
> There are some interesting posts in another thread "Java to die in
> 2003" about pros and cons of Oracle's integration with Java. One of
> the interesting thing mentioned in some of the posts is that Oracle is
> trying to push PL/SQL away and replace it with Java. Even I myself
> opposed the idea with a bold statement that "It was never Oracle's
> intention to replace PL/SQL with Java and Java is only there as a
> support to PL/SQL in whatever it cannot handle".
>
> Just for curiosity to see where Oracle stands on this issue, I thumbed
> through from current to some of the past issues of Oracle magazine.
> Although I did not realize this before but to my surprise, almost 80%
> to 90% of "Oracle Technology related" articles published by Oracle
> magazine within last few months are about Java, J2EE, EJB and all the
> other fancy Java related acronyms.
>
> In most current issue of Oracle magazine (Jan/Feb 2003), there is an
> article by Kuassi Mensah, "Simplify with Java stored procedure". Under
> "PL/SQL or Java" subheading, he/she writes "When you think of Oracle
> stored procedures, you probably think of PL/SQL. Oracle, however, has
> provided Java support in the database since Oracle 8i, to offer an
> open and portable alternative to PL/SQL for stored procedures.....".
> Entire article after this is about all the wonderfull things Java can
> do in Oracle... which to some part I agree.
>
> The thing that caught my attention above was "...open and portable
> alternative to PL/SQL for stored procedures". Is Oracle really trying
> to slowly sneak Java in to replace PL/SQL? I guess only Oracle knows
> the answer to that question. This is only one article... but the fact
> that Oracle magazine published it carries some weight.
>
> I hope I am not wrong in my assumption that "It was never Oracle's
> intention to replace PL/SQL with Java" but it looks like that Oracle
> knows something that some of us don't!!!
>
> Any thoughts.
>
> /Rauf Sarwar

I think even though Oracle is pushing Java as a portable solution for stored procedures, I don't think it is meant to be a replacement for PL/SQL. Rather, I think they might be feeling the bite from other systems like SQL Server and noticing the bias towards SQL Server for many applications which claim to support multiple databases.

With the use of Java for your stored procedures, theoretically, it could be possible to support multiple databases without having to resort to removing everything form the database and putting it into the client application. At present, this seems to be the trend and the result is a client application designed for the lowest common denominator. It is possible Oracle has decided that if they push the "portability" of java for stored procedures, more applications might be written which are able to take better advantage of the database itself and rely less heavily on the client - if this were to happen, I believe Oracle would perform better than Sql Server, which would certainly broaden its appeal. As it currently stands, it seems to me that in an application which tries to support multiple databases by catering to the lowest common denominator and doing all the work within the client, SQL Server appears to come out in fron (mainly because most of the strengths/benefits of Oracle are being side stepped).

There has certainly been a push from within Oracle regarding Java, but I still don't believe this is meant to be at the cost of PL/SQL - more than likely its just the java camp has probably been given more resources to push the java perspective. You would imagine that if they were going to drop PL/SQL in favor of java, you would not see things like the introduction of ref cursors, execute immediate and other enhancements to PL/SQL - if you planned to drop something, why introduce new features which could also introduce new bugs and require additional maintenance?

I still feel java is meant as an additional tool, not as a replacement tool.

Tim

-- 
Tim Cross
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