Re: LONG RAW / No virtual mem support?

In article <2q8jjt$qs4_at_kruuna.Helsinki.FI>, <karell_at_cc.Helsinki.FI> writes:
> I was told by local Oracle support people that
> in V7 LONG RAW data _must_ fit in RAM. Is this
> true? If so when can we expect this to change?
> I was looking forward to this type but cannot use
> it if pure RAM is required.

True; there is no support for loading LONG data type in small pieces, although you can read the LONG type in pieces. This astounding lack of symmetry is by specification.

Oracle does not distinguish between "pure RAM" and virtual memory; the only stipulation is that the entire LONG object must be present in your address space. I have never seen any programming sample illustrating how a 4-gigabyte LONG object could be loaded, since almost no machine or operating system will allow one process to become that large under ordinary circumstances.

I will observe, in connection with this question, that in oracle's alliances with full-motion-video providers, the highly-vaunted gigabyte-capacity LONG data type is not used: the digital video is stored in a file server, not in the database.

Oracle staff, are you paying attention?

--
dave mausner _at_ braun technology group, chicago.