SQLPLUS and PL/SQL

[Quoted] [Quoted] Hi all, I'm a student taking an intro database class and I have a professor that either doesn't know or doesn't care to know anything about what he's "teaching" us. I am trying to figure out PL/SQL with only the online help to guide me and I'm having some difficulty. Specifically, SQLPlus won't recognize BEGIN or DECLARE as valid SQL statements. When I try this:

CREATE PROCEDURE simple ( value IN INTEGER ) AS BEGIN
        RETURN;
END simple;
/

[Quoted] I get an error at the opening paren stating it's not a valid SQL statement. I've tried anonymous blocks as simple as

BEGIN
END; but again, I'm told that BEGIN is not a valid SQL statement. Stabbing in the dark has gotten me no where so any direction you can offer is GREATLY appreciated!

What do i have to do to make this work? Can anyone PLEASE recommend a good book that will guide me through the particulars of SQL.

FYI, I'm using SQLPlus ver. 3.2.300 and Oracle7 server 7.2.3.0.0.

cheers

--
[Quoted] Corby S. Hudnall                 Senior, Spring 1998
Colorado State University        http://WWW.CS.ColoState.EDU/~hudnall
Department of Computer Science   hudnall_at_CS.ColoState.EDU

     Software is neither science nor engineering. It's really an
     obscure form of poetry.