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Introduction to Oracle PL/SQL

PL/SQL stands for Procedural Language/ SQL, and is a pretty sophisticated language used to access Oracle databases. It is integrated within the server environment to ensure smooth and fast execution of PL/SQL code or queries. The bigger part of this language is the SQL component (pronounced Es-queue-El) which a 4th generation language used to create, manipulate and remove data from a relational database. This language is called fourth-generation because it is much closer to the natural English language and mainly because the language describes what should be done and not how it should be done. Thus we tell the database what to do, but leave it up to its own built-in algorithm to decide how best to perform the required functions. For example:

SELECT firstname, lastname 

     FROM students 

     WHERE age >= 18;

Issuing this simple query causes the database to return first and last names of all students whose age is 18 and higher. Not only does this query sound close to the natural language, it also has specific instructions on what rows to return and not how it should be done.

PL/SQL language structure

Just like other procedural languages such as C and COBOL, PL/SQL borrows some those characteristics and then combines those with characteristics of a fourth generation language. Thus PL/SQL has characteristics such as:

Variable and type declarations
Procedures and functions
Object types (Available in Oracle 8 and higher versions) and
Control structures such as LOOPS and IF-THEN-ELSE statements.

In the next few postings we will explore the PL/SQL language structure in detail.

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Introduction to Oracle PL/SQL

PL/SQL language structure

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