Advantages & Disadvantages of Oracle SQL

Oracle SQL (structured query language) is a computer language that is designed to manage data stored in RDBMS (relational database management systems) databases. An RDBMS is a system of tables that store data and represents the relationships between them. SQL has various structural elements, including clauses, expressions, queries, statements and predicates. Oracle SQL is commonly used for the management of data stored in Oracle databases (also called Oracle RDBMS or simply Oracle).

1. Advantage: Centralized Management System and Control

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Oracle SQL statements allow data to be controlled from a central tabular repository. A database administrator (DBA) is responsible to create users, assign privileges, add records, delete redundant information, modify existing data and process queries. This centrally stored data is shared and accessed by various applications. This eliminates data entry and data storage redundancy.

Advantage: Standardization
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A major advantage of Oracle SQL is its standardization and consistency among various different implementations. SQL was first standardized by ANSI (American Standards Institute) in 1986, and further ratified in 1987 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which remains its standardization body.

Advantages
2. Free ! 3. Simple to install. 4. No need to install agents. 5. No need to run a performance warehouse. 6. No need to hire consultants to implement. 7. No extra clients to install.

Disadvantage: Inability to Implement Recursive Processing

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According to "SQL for Dummies," one of the major drawbacks of SQL is its incapability to execute recursive processing. Recursive processing is a type of computer function (or program) in which one of the steps of a program (or procedure) reruns the entire program (or procedure). SQL lacks looping constructs that are common in other high-level programming languages, such as for and what loops. It cannot repeat actions and there is no way to define repetitive looping constructs in SQL.

Disadvantage: Incompatibility and Complexity

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One of the major disadvantages of Oracle SQL is inconsistency and data incompatibility in the areas of time and date syntax, string concatenation and case sensitivity. The language is complex, with a keyword approach similar in structure to COBOL (common business-oriented language), with fewer syntax and grammar rules.

Disadvantages
8. No GUI. 9. No direct memory access for fine grained monitoring. 10. You need a query tool (like Toad), which can be used to copy+paste data to Excel. 11. You need a graph tool like Excel. 12. A little work has to be done to produce a graph. 13. You still need indepth knowledge of the Oracle database. 14. You still need a method for performanced tuning & analysus. 15. Analysis of performance puts extra load on the database.

Disadvantage: Limited Functionality

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SQL is a domain specific or special-purpose language, and its use is limited to a specific program domain. SQL statements are operated on tables and sets of data, such as personnel databases and accounting spreadsheets. SQL is a declarative domain specific language that is limited to the tabular representation of data.

Advantages

It reflects the organizational structure.

Organizations may be distributed across a wide geographic area. It is natural for databases to be set up to reflect this. Local areas will keep local information and this allows local users to quickly access the local database. A headquarters may also wish to make global inquiries to local data at the local regions. Improved shareability.

This allows users at one site to access data stored at other sites. Data is placed close to the users who normally access this data, it gives them local control and allows them to set up and establish local policies regarding the data use. A global administrator is responsible for the entire system and should help at a local level to develop and manage the dbms. Improved availability and reliability.

Data in a centralized DB is inaccessible if there is a problem with the DB. However i a distributed site the local data is only inaccessible and if replication is i force then all data may be available at another site. Improved performance.

Since data is kept local then local access is much quicker than access to a centralized DB.

Disadvantages
Complexity
A DDBMS is much more complex than a centralized DB. If there are conflicts in hardware and software in use then this may cause performance issues and the sited advantages may become disadvantages.

Cost.
It is much more expensive to setup and maintain a DDBMS. More hardware is required the network maintenance is increased the communication costs increase and there will be additional labour costs.

Security.
It is much more difficult to maintain a secure network system across multiple locations. The network needs to be made secure and access to replicated data needs to be maintained across multiple sites.

Integrity control more difficult.

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