Oracle Database 23c: New feature highlights

Based on this fascinating Twitter thread by Philipp Salvisberg covering the presentation by Gerald Venzl at DOAG 2022 I would like to mention a few of the features that could be part of Oracle Database 23c. This would be the new Long Term Support release (succeeding 19c) with a beta period starting in October 2022 and ending in February 2023. Soon we’ll be able to start playing with these features, and before too long we can start using them for real. Note that Oracle Database 23c will be supported for a long time (well into 2028 and with extended support already projected into 2031).

Some new features always seemed obvious but never happened… until now.

1. Select without FROM — if what you want to select does not come from a table, you do not need to pretend that it does by using DUAL.

OK, this one will not keep you awake, but it is nice, yes?

2. Use column alias in GROUP BY and HAVING — a long running frustration: If you want to group by a column expression, you cannot simply use the column alias (as you can in the ORDER BY) but you have to type (no typos please) the same column expression. In 23c we will be able to simply use the column alias!

3. Test for object existence in DDL statements using IF EXISTS and IF NOT EXIST(S?) — it is not elegant when your DDL…