Oracle PL/SQL for DBAs

Preface

Millions of application developers and database administrators (DBAs) around the world use software provided by Oracle Corporation to build complex systems that manage vast quantities of data. At the heart of much of Oracle’s software is PL/SQL—a programming language that provides procedural extensions to Oracle’s version of Structured Query Language (SQL) and serves as the programming language within the Oracle Developer toolset.

PL/SQL figures prominently as an enabling technology in almost every new product released by Oracle Corporation. Software professionals use PL/SQL to perform many kinds of programming functions, including:

• Implementing crucial business rules in the Oracle Server with PL/SQL-based stored procedures and database triggers

• Generating and managing XML documents entirely within the database

• Linking web pages to an Oracle database

• Implementing and automating database administration tasks—from establishing row-level security to managing rollback segments within PL/SQL programs

PL/SQL was modeled after Ada,^[*] a programming language designed for the United States Department of Defense. Ada is a high-level language that emphasizes data abstraction, information hiding, and other key elements of modern design strategies. As a result of this very smart design decision by Oracle, PL/SQL is a powerful language that incorporates many of the most advanced elements of procedural languages, including:

• A full range of datatypes from number to string, and including complex ...