RE: is this a good practice...pl/sql question

> Keeping aside all considerations about the loop, I see no problem
>here. The cursor variable is just short-hand notation for defining a
>table%ROWTYPE - you are not modifying some hidden Oracle internal state
>if this is what you are fearing. No 'mutating cursor', if I guess you
>correctly.

  I guess I am really wondering if it is a good practice to modify the attributes of a record previously selected via a cursor. It is not just a typical variable that is defined and used in a manner that suits the algorithm. I am just wondering if it would be a better idea to treat this type of a record as a constant. To elevate it conceptually. The reason being that it does(should?)represent what was actually selected from the database. If another developer, or myself for that matter, were to come along at a later date, and use that attribute in another section of code not knowing, or forgetting, it had been altered above. I have actually used this technique extensively in a couple of routines more complex than the one I have described above. It was just as I made this little code change, I felt a pang of conscience, and wanted to ask this philosophical question.

  I am not worried about mucking up the database, or any such thing. I am aware that variable is just like any other attribute in any record I might have explicitly created myself. It is just that since the database instantiated this record to represent the results of my query, I am wondering if it should grant it an elevated postition.

Sorry for rambling on and on etc.

Steve

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Author: Steve McClure
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