Advanced Oracle PL/SQL Programming with Packages

2.10. Hiding Package Data

You implement PL/SQL-based global data with package data. Package data is any data structure declared in a package body or specification. There are two kinds of package data: public data (declared in the specification) and private data (declared in the body).

What's the difference between public and private? Public global data is the proverbial "loose cannon" of programming. Public package data is certainly very convenient. Simply declare a few variables in a package specification and they are available from/to any module. If you need to get a piece of information, just grab it from the global. If you want to change the value of that variable, go at it. Reliance on global data structures, however, leads to two significant problems:

• Loss of control. When you declare a data structure in the package specification, you lose control over that data structure's value. Since any program can write to it, you can never trust its value. Instead, you must trust developers to do the right thing when working with that variable. Now, I am as trusting as the next programmer, but anarchy really has little place in the world of software development.

• Loss of flexibility. When you allow programmers to make direct references to global data, you lose the flexibility you need to enhance your application to take advantage of new features. Very specifically, you limit your ability to change the data structures used to implement your global data.

You don't have to create ...