Oracle PL/SQL Programming: Guide to Oracle8i Features

By Steven Feuerstein

Chapter 10. More Goodies for Oracle8i PL/SQL Developers

I've already covered a veritable cornucopia of new features available for PL/SQL developers in Oracle8 i . Even if that were all that Oracle8 i offered to developers, we would all be very happyand very busy learning how to use all the new stuff. Yet there is still more! This chapter covers other features that improve either the performance or the usability of PL/SQL in Oracle8 i :

The NOCOPY compiler hint

You can avoid the overhead of copying IN OUT parameter values with this enhancement. When you are working with large collections and records, NOCOPY can have a noticeable impact on program performance.

Calling PL/SQL functions from SQL

Oracle8 i offers some big relief for PL/SQL developers when it comes to calling their own functions: you no longer have to use the RESTRICT_REFERENCES pragma! Oracle8 i also offers two new keywords, DETERMINISTIC and PARALLEL ENABLE, to help you integrate your PL/SQL, C, and Java code into all aspects of your database.

SQL99 compliance

Oracle8 i adds or expands the TRIM and CAST operators to better support the SQL99 standard.

SQL operations on collections

Oracle8 i makes it even easier to integrate PL/SQL (transient) collections into SQL statements.

I also review transparent improvements, that is, changes to the language that improve the performance or behavior of your PL/SQL-based applications without necessitating any modifications to your code.