Re: Should TO_CHAR be replaced by high level code with pl/sql calls?

Pete Finnigan wrote:

> Hi,
>
> It may slightly make sense only if your programs are written in C or C++
> (OCI, Pro*C, OCCI) and you make many calls to the database with SQL
> using TO_CHAR and also depending on how fast your own C conversion is.
> The to_char's implemented in $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/stdspec.sql and
> stdbody.sql are either pragma builtin or simply rely on implicit
> conversions. I don't know the exact mechanism for the pragma builtin
> keyword but the function is almost certainly implemented in C and would
> be called in the SQL engine directly so should be reasonably efficient.
> We don't know the details of why this is suggested but on balance its
> probably not worth the effort.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Pete

Given what we know of Oracle it could also be implemented in assember. Either way ... the benefit to writing your own would rank somewhere around the decrease in performance one would expect to see with the line voltage to the computer dropped from 120V to 118V. ;-)

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Daniel Morgan
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