Learning Oracle PL/SQL

3.6. Going to the Next Level

As you gain some proficiency with procedures, functions, and packages, you may begin to wonder how you can take your work to the next level of sophistication. Here are several tips and suggestions for doing so.

3.6.1. Naming Your Files

As a practical matter, an issue that you will face is what to name your files of source code when you store them in the operating system. When assigning names to operating system files containing PL/SQL code, I tend to use the file extension to give a clue as to what's inside the file. Although Chapter 6 will revisit the issue of file naming in some detail, here are some guidelines to get you started:

Filename pattern	Contents
name.pro	(Standalone) stored procedure
name.fun	(Standalone) stored function
name.sql	Anonymous block or script containing multiple blocks, SQL statements, and/or SQL*Plus commands
name.pks	Package specification
name.pkb	Package body

So, following this convention, some of the files in this chapter would be:

add_book.sp	add_book stored procedure
book_copy_qty.fun	book_copy_qty stored function
test_add_book.sql	Unit test program for add_book
book.pks	Package specification
book.pkb	Package body

The package specification and the package body should be in separate files.

3.6.2. Reuse Your Code

Don't think, as some early software management theorists did, that you can count lines of code as a measure of programmer productivity. Small is beautiful; programmers should strive ...