Hello Chuck,

I'll comment. PL/SQL works and is very similar to Ada. In syntax and semantics, it is essentially a subset of Ada. Then it adds the syntax and semantics to do SQL in a fairly clean way:

  -- Print a list of Employees earning more than the Upper_Limit
  for I in (select Last_Name, First_Name from Personnel
             where Employees.Wages > Upper_Limit) loop
    -- || is the same as Ada's &
    HTP.print (i.First_Name || i.Last_Name); -- HTP is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol package
    HTP.br;
  end loop;

It includes the same scoping, exception handling, declarative, typing, etc.
It does not include generics, tasking, or appendixes - however I haven't used the latest version of Oracle; so there may be some enhancements.

This is a quick and incomplete reply, but should help. I encourage you to continue investigating. I've even taught more experienced PL/SQL programmers some of the subtle semantics of PL/SQL which were learned using Ada.

[log in to unmask]
703-742-8662

At 10:17 AM +0000 6/21/00, Charles Plinta wrote:
>I have done alot of programmimg over the last 7 years using
>the Progress database environment. I have a client that is
>insisting that we use Oracle to develop a system for them.
>Like any good programmer worth his weight in salt,
>I purchased a book to get a feel for working and programming
>in the Oracle database environment. It is from Oracle Press entitled:
>"Oracle 8i, A Beginners Guide" by Abbey, Corey, and Abramson.
>
>Chapter 8: PL/SQL
>  Section: Why do I need to know PL/SQL? (page 231)
>
>  "If you want to become fluent with the Oracle Product Set,
>   PL/SQL must become part of your skill set.  IF you have
>   any programming experience with Ada, PL/SQL will seem very
>   familiar..."
>
>Anyone with Oracle experience care to comment?
>
>Chuck Plinta
>
>Accel Software Engineering                         (w) 724-733-8800
>9 Mellon Road                                      (f) 724-733-8820
>Export, PA 15632                                   [log in to unmask]
>                                                   http://www.accelse.com/