Re: [newbie] pl/sql goals

Daniel Dupont wrote:

> Hi,
> can I have a short description of pl/sql, including its main goal ?
> regards,
> D

Following is _my_ interpretation, not Oracle's.

PL/SQL is a procedural programing language, based on Ada. It is p-compiled and run using a PL/SQL engine which is frequently (usually?) invoked in the Oracle RDBMS memory space to provide secure(1) procedural capabilities which can efficiently interact with, and even extend, traditional transactional SQL.

It's main goal was to compete with Sybase's Transact-SQL (now aka Microsoft's T-SQL) and was therefore designed to assist those who could not, or would not, learn set theory and proper use of the SQL language.

It is now a mechanism for

1. demonstrating the consequences of committing in loops;
2. creating applications (stored procedures) within the RDBMs' memory space;
3. creating complex triggers;
4. interacting with other languages (if you can figure out how <g>);
5. significantly increasing the power of SQL in an Oracle environment.

(1) secure, in a manner similar to Java's applet environment can control nteraction to the underlying OS.

(Permission to copy the above without appropriate reference is NOT granted. Profs do read the newsgroup!)

Now - go and read the docco to understand what this means <g> /Hans Received on Wed Aug 25 2004 - 17:55:18 CDT