[...]... compilation Oracle 11g automates the process for you on supported platforms PL/SQL Versions Initial PL/SQL versions were not sequenced with the version of the database For example, PL/SQL 1.0 shipped with the Oracle 6 Database PL/SQL 2.x shipped with the Oracle 7.x Databases Beginning with Oracle 8, PL/SQL versions correspond to the database release numbers, like PL/SQL 11.1 in the Oracle 11g Release 1 Database. .. an ERD of the model PART I PL/SQL Fundamentals This page intentionally left blank CHAPTER 1 Oracle PL/SQL Overview 3 4 Oracle Database 11g PL/SQL Programming T his chapter introduces you to the Procedure Language/Structured Query Language (PL/SQL) It explains the history, architecture, and block structure of PL/SQL, reviews Oracle 10g new features, and discusses Oracle 11g new features The chapter... structures ■ Oracle 10g new features ■ Oracle 11g new features History and Background The PL/SQL was developed by Oracle in the late 1980s Originally, PL/SQL had limited capabilities, but that changed in the early 1990s PL/SQL provides the Oracle database with a built-in interpreted and operating system–independent programming environment SQL statements are natively integrated in the PL/SQL language... fundamentals of PHP, the implementation of Zend Core for Oracle, and how to write PHP web pages against the Oracle 11g database ■ Appendix D: Oracle Database Java Primer covers the fundamentals of the Java programming language, and discusses the Oracle JDBC connection for Oracle 11g It also demonstrates how to build standalone Java applications that work with the database, including LOBs ■ Appendix E: Regular... high-level view of the PL/SQL language The next section will provide a brief overview of PL/SQL block structures FIGURE 1-1 Database processing architecture 8 Oracle Database 11g PL/SQL Programming Basic Block Structures PL/SQL is a blocked programming language Program units can be named or unnamed blocks Unnamed blocks are known as anonymous blocks and are labeled so throughout the book The PL/SQL coding style... conditional and iterative structures of PL/SQL It also covers cursors (including system reference cursors) and bulk operations in the language ■ Chapter 5: Error Management explains how error management works in PL/SQL It teaches you how to handle exceptions, define your custom exceptions, and manage error stacks xxi xxii Oracle Database 11g PL/SQL Programming Part II: PL/SQL Programming Part II introduces... to configure and deploy these PL/SQL only web solutions using the standalone Oracle HTTP Server and Oracle XML Database Part IV: Appendixes Part IV contains a series of primers to help jump-start those new to Oracle or related technologies, including Oracle DBA tasks, SQL programming, PHP scripting, Java development, regular expressions, and wrapping PL/SQL It also covers PL/SQL Hierarchical Profiler,... functions ■ Appendix A: Oracle Database Administration Primer explains how to use the SQL*Plus interface, start up and shut down the database, and start up or shut down the Oracle listener ■ Appendix B: Oracle Database SQL Primer begins by covering Oracle s implementation of SQL, starting with Oracle SQL*Plus datatypes, and then covers the SQL language commands needed to build database applications:... libraries Wrappers are interfaces that mask type conversion between the database and external programs You can extend the functionality of the Oracle 11g Database when you build stored functions and procedures in PL/SQL, C, C++, or Java Java programs can be directly stored inside the Oracle 11g Database in all releases except the Oracle Express Edition Chapter 12 demonstrates how to build and run external... datatypes are critical to tightly integrating the Oracle SQL and PL/SQL languages PL/SQL supports dynamic datatypes by mapping them at run time against types defined in the Oracle 11g Database catalog Matching operators and string delimiters means simplified parsing because SQL statements are natively embedded in PL/SQL programming units NOTE Primitives in the Java programming language describe scalar variables, . x0 y0 w0 h1" alt="" ® Oracle Database 11g PL/SQL Programming This page intentionally left blank ® Oracle Database 11g PL/SQL Programming Michael McLaughlin New. Development, Oracle Database 10g PL/SQL Programming, and Expert Oracle PL/SQL. About the Technical Editor A. Scott Mikolaitis is an Applications Architect at Oracle