Oracle PL /SQL Programming - Softcover

The book contains information about the latest Oracle9i PL/SQL features, including: Record-based DML: You can now use records in INSERT and DELETE statements. Table functions: These are functions that return a result set (in the form of a PL/SQL collection). Such functions existed in Oracle8i but they are now much expanded.New and improved datatypes: Oracle now offers dramatically improved support for timestamps, time zone management, and interval calculations. In addition, the XMLType datatype has now been implemented.Inheritance for object types: You can now define a hierarchy of object types (which were first introduced in Oracle8). Enhancements to PL/SQL collections. PL/SQL now supports multiple-level collections (nesting collections within collections), as well as associative arrays (previously called index-by tables), which allow you toindex by PLS_INTEGER and VARCHAR2.Native compilation of PL/SQL code: PL/SQL source code can now optionally be compiled into native object code that is linked into Oracle. The book is divided into six parts: Part I, Programming in PL/SQL Part II, PL/SQL Program Structure Part III, PL/SQL Program Data Part IV, SQL in PL/SQL Part V, PL/SQL Application Construction Part VI, Advanced PL/SQL TopicsEven if you've been a PL/SQL developer for years, you'll find an enormous amount of new and revised information in this third edition and on its companion web site. If you're new to PL/SQL, you'll find "Oracle PL/SQL Programming an invaluable companion on the road to mastery.