The second edition of this popular pocket guide provides quick-reference information that will help you use Oracle's PL/SQL language, including the newest Oracle9i Release 2 features. It's a companion to Steven Feuerstein and Bill Pribyl's bestselling Oracle PI/SQL Programming.

This concise guide boils down the most vital information from the larger book into an accessible quick-reference to fundamental language elements (e.g., block structure, identifiers, variables, datatypes, and declarations); statements for program control, cursor management, and exception handling; the basics of records, procedures, functions, triggers, and packages; and the calling of PL/SQL functions in SQL. It also includes Oracle's object-oriented features, collections, external procedures, Java integration, and such Oracle9i elements as new timestamp and interval datatypes, CASE statements and expressions, native compilation of PL/SQL, pipelined table functions, object type inheritance, upcasting/ downcasting of subtypes, nested collections, and much more.

Contents

• PL/SQL Language Fundamentals
• Variables and Program Data
• Conditional and Sequential Control
• Loops
• Database Interaction
• Cursors in PL/SQL
• Exception Handing
• Records in PL/SQL
• Named Program Units
• Triggers
• Packages
• Calling PL/SQL Functions in SQL
• Oracle's Object-Oriented Features
• Collections
• External Procedures
• Java Language Integration
• Reserved Words