On Fri, 19 Mar 1999 aashis@bom3.vsnl.net.in wrote:

> Hi Ari,
> I would like to know the difference between Oracle8  and Oracle 7.x. I
> know it may be a very vast subject to explain, but if you could just
> briefly give me an overview of the basic differences between them ,it
> would be great..like what's available in Oracle 8 which isn't in the
> older versions etc.
> Looking forward to your reply,
> Thanking you,
> Parul Sheth
>
Parul,

You are correct in that it would take a while to explain the differences.
The most important are listed below:

* Datatypes: new ones (BLOB, BFILE, CLOB, etc) and larger VARCHAR (4000)
* Tables support 1000 co,umns
* Partitioned tables and indexes
* Better parallel processing (CREATE INDEX, CREATE TABLE AS SELECT, ...)
* Object-relational features (Nested Tables, VARRAYs, object views)
* Better security (expiring passwords, password history, locking a user
  out if they enter 3 invalid passwords, etc.)
* Index-only tables (tables stored in B*Treive format)
* Reverse key indexes - for indexs with unevenly distributed data
* Better Cost-based optimization
* Deferred constraints
* Updatable views with INSTEAD OF Triggers

Check out most Oracle8 books for more info on the above subjects.

Best regards,

-Ari Kaplan
Independent Oracle DBA Consultant

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