Answer:
As a Technical Consultant at Oracle, I can explain the difference between a stored procedure and a function in Oracle, as below:- Situation/Task: In Oracle, a stored procedure and a function are two important database objects that support procedural programming for performing operations on data. - Action: The major difference between them lies in their usage and return values.- Result/ Outcome: A stored procedure is a set of pre-compiled SQL statements that can accept input parameters and modify the database state. A stored procedure can return multiple result sets, but it does not necessarily return a value. In contrast, a function in Oracle is a database object that can accept input parameters and return a single value or a single result set. Functions must return a value before completing execution. For example, if we have a requirement to sum up the salary of all employees in a specific department, then we could use a stored procedure to update the department's total salary count in the database. However, if we only need to calculate the total salary for one employee, then we could use a function that returns a single value.Some other differences between stored procedures and functions in Oracle include:- Stored procedures can have output parameters, whereas functions can only return values. - Stored procedures cannot be called in SQL statements directly, whereas functions can be called from SQL statements. - Stored procedures do not have a return clause, whereas functions must have a return clause.In summary, while both stored procedures and functions are useful tools for performing database operations in Oracle, the key difference lies in their usage and return values.Citations:
- Oracle PL/SQL: Part 1 - Stored Procedures and Functions. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.oracletutorial.com/plsql-tutorial/oracle-pl-sql-stored-procedures-functions/- Oracle Documentation: Stored Procedures. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/LNPLS/executeimmediate_statement.htm#LNPLS01304- Oracle Documentation: Functions. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/LNPLS/functions.htm#LNPLS01303