Extensions to the SQL Language

 

This tutorial introduces the architecture of SQL as a vehicle for extracting data from a relational database management system.  The focus of this tutorial is the use of Oracle built-in functions and how to create new SQL functionality by designing custom built-in functions.

 

This tutorial will also explore the decode and case statements and show how they are used for dynamic data transformation inside an Oracle database.

 

The new Oracle aggregation and summarization functions will be explained, showing how the rollup and cube operators are used to summarize and aggregate reporting data inside Oracle.

 

This tutorial is a bit different than earlier tutorials because you will be spending more time writing SQL and reading relevant articles.  This tutorial will give you the important hands-on experience that you need to write complex SQL using aggregations and SQL extensions.

Learning Outcomes

 

Upon completion of this tutorial, you will be able to:

 

• Introduce built-in functions for SQL
• Write custom built-in functions for SQL
• Use the decode operator for data transformation
• Use the CASE statement inside SQL
• Use aggregation and rollup within SQL
• Learn the Oracle object-relational data structures
• Implement an abstract data type definition