Re: Do you use PL/SQL

Doug Davis wrote:
>
> I will be teaching a PL/SQL class, and I wanted to get some opinions.
> I read about PL/SQL, but wanted some practical advice from people who
> have used it.
>
> 1. Why use PL/SQL instead of just sending SQL queries from a program
> written in a procedural language on the client side (Java, Visual
> Basic, C++, anything.)
>
> 2. What are some examples of "real-world" things that you have done
> with PL/SQL (or have heard some one do with PL/SQL?)
>
> thanks.
>
> --
> http://www.douglassdavis.com

I authored and teach the Oracle program at the University of Washington and I must agree with Frank van Bortel when he questions your qualification to teach the class. And my apology if the following seems a bit cruel... it isn't intended to be such.

Several years ago I brought in a PhD Java programmer who was one of the authors of the Hibernate framework to teach one quarter with me. Truly a Java genius. But my students knew more about databases than he did and while they learned a lot of Java they class evaluation form after the quarter was brutal.

Let me give you a short self-test to consider before you teach it.

1. When is it appropriate to commit inside of a loop?
2. When is it appropriate in 9i or 10g to use a cursor loop?
3. When should production code be deployed with stand-alone functions

    and procedures?

If your answer to all three isn't ... "essentially never" ... reconsider.

If you don't understand database concepts and architecture you should reconsider teaching the class. If you don't understand the difference between thinking in sets and procedural code you should reconsider teaching the class. My interpretation of your two questions is that you are wholly unqualified.

Again: sorry if this is a bit harsh.

-- 
Daniel A. Morgan
University of Washington
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace x with u to respond)
Puget Sound Oracle Users Group
www.psoug.org