Overview of PL/SQL Programs

• Describe a PL/SQL program construct:
• There are two main kinds of PL/SQL blocks anonymous and named.
• An anonymous block is compiled each time it is issued. And is not stored in the database, and cannot be called directly from other PL/SQL blocks.
• Named blocks are procedures, functions, packages, and triggers.
• They can be stored in the database and run when appropriate.
• PL/SQL uses early binding to execute SQL statement. So only DML statements can be included directly in PL/SQL block but we can with the DBMS_SQL and execute immediate.
• Describe how a stored procedure /function is invoked:
• Once procedure is created , we can call it from another PL/SQL block procedure_name(parameters);
• EXECUTE will invoke a procedure form iSQL*Plus.