[Oracle] Adding PL/SQL Functionality into an Application

What Is PL/SQL?
PL/SQL stands for Procedural Language extension to SQL. The language offers a robust programming environment that enables you to program procedurally and/or with object-oriented programming techniques such as encapsulation, information hiding, and function overloading. With PL/SQL, you can use state-of-the-art programming for the Oracle Database server and toolset.

Why Use PL/SQL?
PL/SQL provides procedural constructs such as variables, constants, and types. The language provides selective and iterative constructs to SQL. The following are the major benefits of using PL/SQL :

• Integration of procedural constructs with SQL

  Pl/SQL integrates control statements and conditional statements with SQL. This gives you a better control of SQL statemetns and their execution.

• Reduction in network congestion

  PL/SQL allows you to logically combine SQL statements as one unit. The application can send the entire block to the database instead of sending the SQL statements one at a time. This reduces the network traffic.

• Modularized program development

  PL/SQL allows you to group logically related statements within blocks. You can nest blocks inside larger blocks to build powerful programs. Also, you can break your application into smaller modules.

• Integration with tools

  The PL/SQL engine is integrated in Oracle tools such as HTML DB, Oracle Database XE, Oracle Forms, Oracle Reports and so on. When you use these tools, the locally available PL/SQL engine processes the procedural statements and only the SQL statements are passed to the database.

• Portability

  PL/SQL programs can run anywhere Oracle server runs irrespective of the operating system and the platform. You do not need to tailor them to each new environment.

• Exception handling

  An exception is an error in PL/SQL that is raised during the execution of a block. PL/SQL allows you to handle exceptions efficiently. You can define separate blocks for dealing with exceptions.

You may find it necessary to use database applications that include programming logic, sequential statements, and SQL statements. Using PL/SQL, you can build applications that are resilient to change over time and that scale to large user populations.

Source : Oracle Curriculum