Another way to learn something new every day

My morning routine for the last few weeks has had a small addition – just a few minutes to log on The PL/SQL Challenge at 8am (WST) and answer a quiz question.

This is a great way to test the depth and breadth of your knowledge of Oracle PL/SQL. Whether you’re a beginner in the field or have years of experience, I’m certain you’ll occasionally learn something new – plus, it’s completely free!

Some of the questions are fairly general, others are trivial; while they’re never “trick” questions, they can still trip you up if you’re not observant!

I think I have an unfair advantage, being in this timezone – early morning is when I am most alert and ready to tackle any challenge.

A couple of things I’ve learned recently:

• UTL_FILE.putf can be used if you want to use C-style “printf” syntax, e.g. '\n'
• SIGNTYPE is a standard subtype that can only take values of NULL, -1, 0 or 1

(I’ve learned a few other things as well, but I’ve forgotten what they were :|)

Jeffrey Kemp 31 May 2010

PL/SQL / the-feuerstein-challenge /

About Jeffrey Kemp

Application Designer & Developer at Oracle specialising in Oracle APEX (Application Express), Oracle SQL and PL/SQL. Oracle ACE Alumni ♠️. Piano player, father, husband, Christian. The views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oracle.