PL/SQL is a database programming language. This means that your source code is compiled into and executed from within the Oracle Database. There are many fantastic consequences of this fact, many of which are explored in Bryn Llewellyn's Why Use PL/SQL? whitepaper. But this also can mean that developers see the database as the natural repository for the original source code , and this is a bad mistake to make. It's not the sort of mistake any JavaScript or Java or php developer would ever make, because that code is not compiled into the database (well, you can compile Java into the database, but that's not where 99.99% of all Java code lives). But it's a mistake that apparently too many Oracle Database developers make. So here's the bottom line: Store each PL/SQL program unit in its own file . Use a source code control system to manage those files. Compile them into the database as needed for development and testing. In other words: you should never kee...
For the last twenty years, I have managed to transform an obsession with PL/SQL into a paying job. How cool is that?