Re: Pro*C vs. PL/SQL

I beg to differ. If you are porting an existing COBOL application, and do not want to completely rewrite (not clear) then probably a mix of PRO*C and PL/SQL would be suggested. There is probably I/O and File activity in the existing application that will need to remain, also text formating, all of which are not so easy in straight PL/SQL.

I would bundle up the database parts of the program into PL/SQL and wrap around that the Pro*C program. On many programs (I thought) there was Pro*Cobol. Was that considered ?

Assuming the environment I described.
Performance overall will be better becasue you can use the improved database performance of PL/SQL and remove from PL/SQL what it does not do well.
Learning curve, the Pro*C part will be somewhat longer, if you are starting from scratch (but you can hire temp coverage), also if you are in a Unix environment, you will need the C experience.

What happens when Oracle changes PL/SQL ?

Time of development is more a function of your preparation, not the method of execution.

Garth

In article <30FE133F.7DB7_at_speednet.net>, Michael Ho <infoage_at_speednet.net> wrote:
>Kevin Merritt wrote:
>> I would like anybody's thoughts on the advantages and/or
>> disadvantages of developing robust applications in PRO*C
>> vs. PL/SQL.
>> We are porting a mature, robust COBOL application to Oracle
>> and would like to choose the right long-term development
>> tool.
>> Specifically, I'd like feedback comparing PRO*C with PL/SQL
>> on the following areas:
>> Performance
>> Learning Curve
>> Long Term Maintainability
>> Time of Development
>> For purposes of this comparison, assume that our staff is
>> comprised of strong C programmers who have no knowledge of
>> either PRO*C or PL/SQL.
 

>To my experience in Pro*C and PL/SQL, my opinion is that there is no point of using Pro*C if
>PL/SQL works.
>
>Because if you use PL/SQL, you will get
>1. Surely better performance. Because all the function is performed on server. So less comm.
>overhead.
>2. MUCH Easy to learn. You know SQL, you know PL/SQL. But you C, you know nothing about Pro*C.
>3. MUCH Easy to debug/compile/maintain. Only affected PL/SQL procedure need to be update. But
>Pro*C, compiling one program but may linking many.
>4. Pro*C 3x longer development time AT LEAST.
>
>Don't use Pro*C unless you have VERY special reason.
Received on Thu Jan 18 1996 - 00:00:00 CET