Database 23c

Oracle Database now supports the ISO SQL standard-compliant Boolean data type. This enables you to store True and False values in tables and use Boolean expressions in SQL statements. The Boolean data type standardizes the storage of Yes and No values and makes it easier to migrate to Oracle Database.

Oracle Database now allows you to join the target table in UPDATE and DELETE statements to other tables using the FROM clause. These other tables can limit the rows that are changed or be the source of new values. Direct joins make it easier to write SQL to change and delete data.

Oracle Database 23c includes the new role DB_DEVELOPER_ROLE, which provides an application developer with all the necessary privileges to design, implement, debug, and deploy applications on Oracle Databases. By using this role, administrators no longer have to guess which privileges may be necessary for application development.

DDL object creation, modification, and deletion in Oracle Database now supports the IF EXISTS and IF NOT EXISTS syntax modifiers. This enables you to control whether an error should be raised if a given object exists or does not exist, simplifying error handling in scripts and by applications.

Multilingual engine (MLE) module calls allow developers to invoke JavaScript functions stored in modules from SQL and PL/SQL. Call specifications written in PL/SQL link JavaScript to PL/SQL code units. This feature enables developers to use JavaScript functions anywhere PL/SQL functions are called.

JSON Relational Duality, an innovation introduced in Oracle Database 23c, unifies the relational and document data models to provide the best of both worlds. Developers can build applications in either relational or JSON paradigms with a single source of truth and benefit from the strengths of both models. Data is held once but can be accessed, written, and modified with either approach. Developers benefit from ACID-compliant transactions and concurrency controls, which means they no longer have to make trade-offs between complex object-relational mappings or data inconsistency issues.

Oracle Database 23c provides even more refined compatibility for Apache Kafka applications with Oracle Database. This new feature provides easy migration for Kafka Java applications to Transactional Event Queues (TxEventQ). Kafka Java APIs can now connect to Oracle Database server and use TxEventQ as a messaging platform.

Developers can easily migrate an existing Java application that uses Kafka to Oracle Database using the JDBC thin driver. And with the Oracle Database 23c client-side library feature, Kafka applications can now connect to Oracle Database instead of a Kafka cluster and use TxEventQ's messaging platform transparently.

Lock-Free Reservations enable concurrent transactions to proceed without being blocked on updates of heavily updated rows. Lock-Free Reservations are held on the rows instead of locking them. It verifies if the updates can succeed and defers the updates until the transaction commit time. Lock-Free Reservations improves the user experience and concurrency in transactions.

Oracle Database offers native support for property graph data structures and graph queries. If you're looking for flexibility to build graphs in conjunction with transactional data, JSON, Spatial, and other data types, we got you covered. Developers can now easily build graph applications with SQL using existing SQL development tools and frameworks.

Oracle Database now supports schema privileges in addition to existing object, system, and administrative privileges. This feature improves security by simplifying authorization for database objects to better implement the principle of least privilege and keep the guesswork out of who should have access to what.

You can now run SELECT expression-only queries without a FROM clause. This new feature improves SQL code portability and ease of use for developers.

Create SQL macros to factor out common SQL expressions and statements into reusable, parameterized constructs that can be used in other SQL statements. SQL macros can be scalar expressions that are typically used in SELECT lists as well as WHERE, GROUP BY, and HAVING clauses. SQL macros can also be used to encapsulate calculations and business logic or can be table expressions, typically used in a FROM clause. Compared to PL/SQL constructs, SQL macros can improve performance. SQL macros increase developer productivity, simplify collaborative development, and improve code quality.

Annotations enable you to store and retrieve metadata about database objects. They are free-form text fields applications can use to customize business logic or user interfaces. Annotations are name-value pairs or simply a name. They help you use database objects in the same way across all applications, simplifying development and improving data quality.