Learn PL/SQL

• PL/SQL stands for Procedural Language/SQL.
• PL/SQL extends SQL by adding constructs found in procedural languages, resulting in a structural language that is more powerful than SQL.
• The basic unit in PL/SQL is a block.
• All PL/SQL programs are made up of blocks, which can be nested within each other.
• PL/SQL programs are organised in functions, procedures and packages.
• Typically, each block performs a logical action in he program.
• PL/SQL is based on the Ada programming language, and as such it shares many elements of its syntax with Pascal.

Advantages of PL/SQL

PL/SQL is a completely portable, high-performance transaction processing language that offers the following advantages:

• Support for SQL
• Support for object-oriented programming
• Better performance
• Higher productivity
• Full portability
• Tight integration with Oracle
• Tight security

A block has the following structure:

DECLARE

/* Declarative section: variables, types, and local subprograms. */

BEGIN

/* Executable section: procedural and SQL statements go here. */

/* This is the only section of the block that is required. */

EXCEPTION

/* Exception handling section: error handling statements go here. */

END;