Beginning PL/SQL: From Novice to Professional

Introduction (The Big Picture)

This is a book about writing stored procedures for an Oracle database. A stored procedure in this context is a generic term for a program written in the Procedure Language extension for SQL (PL/SQL) that is stored inside the database when it is compiled. This means that you can then execute the program from inside the database. Why would you want to do that? Because your program will run faster inside the database.

Let's slow down for a minute, so I can explain what a stored procedure is and why you would want to use one.

What's a Stored Procedure?

In order for me to answer the question, "What's a stored procedure?" I need to cover a little material on databases and networks first. By now, you've probably already ...