CHAPTER 10Database Tables

In this chapter, we will discuss the various types of database tables and cover when you might want to use each type (i.e., when one type of table is more appropriate than another). We will concentrate on the physical storage characteristics of the tables: how the data is organized and stored.

Once upon a time, there was only one type of table, really: a "normal" table. It was managed in the same way a "heap of stuff" is managed (the definition of which appears in the next section). Over time, Oracle added more sophisticated types of tables. Now, in addition to the heap organized table, there are clustered tables (three types of those), index organized tables, nested tables, temporary tables, and object tables. Each ...

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