Putting Methods to Work in Oracle Oracle Tips by Mike Ault

Method Basics

If one were to consider a purely object-oriented language like C++, it would be found that the underlying principle of method design is the encapsulation of data with its inherent behavior. Indeed, methods represent the actions or events that are associated with a given data object or class. Let us consider for a moment, a simple class object in C++. Recall that a class is a type that consists of data members and their functions. The associated functions comprise the class methods and are also constituent members of that class. In a language like C++ it is possible for elements to achieve this homogeneous characteristic.

In the traditional framework of relational design, behaviors have always maintained a disjoint relationship with the data. The problem of data behavior has been addressed through the use of database triggers, stored packages and procedures, external procedures, and so on. In truth, this approach never coupled behavior with data, but in all fairness, it was never designed to do so. The object-relational nature of Oracle8 makes great strides in remedying the disparate way that relational methodology treats the association between data and behavior.

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