Hey it *was* dashed off just before 7am, I hadn't even had a coffee then!
Anyway no doubt there are cases where a while loop would be better than a
FOR loop, but I suspect that they are quite rare.
--
Niall Litchfield
Oracle DBA
Audit Commission UK
http://www.niall.litchfield.dial.pipex.com/
"Daniel Morgan" <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu> wrote in message
news:1084168443.46845_at_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 - 07:58:21 CDT
