A Poet, A Bum and Some Philosophers

I am writing about my man, Charles Bukowski, again. The poem I am sharing today is the opening piece of his book named What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire that was published in 1999. I wish I could be reading life in such a simple way which is expressed in the poem below: Reading the meaning in the actions, rather than listening too many stories from too many people...
Enjoy :)

    my father and the bum

    my father believed in work.
    he was proud to have a
    job.
    sometimes he didn't have a
    job and then he was very
    ashamed.
    he'd be so ashamed that he'd
    leave the house in the morning
    and then come back in the evening
    so the neighbors wouldn't
    know.

    me,
    I liked the man next door:
    he just sat in a chair in
    his back yard and threw darts
    at some circles he had painted
    on the side of his garage.
    in Los Angeles in 1930
    he had a wisdom that
    Goethe, Hegel, Kierkegaard,
    Nietzsche, Freud,
    Jaspers, Heidegger and
    Toynbee would find hard
    to deny.

Quine in PL/SQL

A quine is a computer program which produces its own source code as its output. The name is referring to famous American philosopher Willard van Orman Quine who has a powerful influence on analytical philosophy. I recommend you to have a look at his brief biography and the paradox he introduced.

The anonymous PL/SQL block below stores its output in a table named t2 so that we can see the output by selecting the row inserted from the table after execution of the block.

Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.1.0.7.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning option

SQL> drop table t2;

Table dropped.

SQL> create table t2 (v varchar2(4000));

Table created.

SQL> declare
  2   s varchar2(4000) := 'declare
  3   s varchar2(4000):="$";
  4  begin
  5   insert into t2
  6   values
  7     (replace(replace(s, chr(34), chr(39)),
  8      chr(36),
  9      "$"));
 10  end;';
 11  begin
 12    insert into t2
 13    values
 14      (replace(replace(s, chr(34), chr(39)),
 15               chr(36),
 16               'declare
 17   s varchar2(4000):="$";
 18  begin
 19   insert into t2 values(replace(replace(s,chr(34),chr(39)),chr(36),"$"));
 20  end;'));
 21  end;
 22  /

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> select * from t2;

V
--------------------------------------- 
declare
 s varchar2(4000):='declare
 s varchar2(4000):="$";
begin
 insert into t2
 values
   (replace(replace(s,chr(34),chr(39)),
    chr(36),
    "$"));
end;';
begin
 insert into t2
 values
   (replace(replace(s, chr(34), chr(39)),
chr(36),
'declare
 s varchar2(4000):="$";
begin
 insert into t2 values(replace(replace(s,chr(34),chr(39)),chr(36),"$"));
end;'));
end;

Universal Data Printer in PL/SQL

The listing below demonstrates two procedures which are to execute any sort of SQL and print the data set in ";" seperated format. Both procedures use DBMS_SQL package for describing and fetching the data. The difference between those procedures is that the second one opens the data set by using a weak ref cursor then the ref cursor is casted to a DBMS_SQL cursor. This feature is announced with Oracle 11g Release 1.

Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.1.0.7.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning option

SQL> create or replace procedure pr_universal_data_printer(p_sql in varchar2) is
  2    fetch_out_of_seq exception;
  3    pragma exception_init(fetch_out_of_seq, -1002);
  4 
  5    unsupported_type exception;
  6    pragma exception_init(unsupported_type, -20001);
  7 
  8    desc_tab dbms_sql.desc_tab2;
  9    cols     binary_integer;
 10    cursor_  binary_integer;
 11 
 12    date_col date;
 13    char_col varchar2(4000);
 14    num_col  number;
 15    exe      number;
 16  begin
 17    if dbms_sql.is_open(cursor_) then
 18      dbms_sql.close_cursor(cursor_);
 19    end if;
 20 
 21    cursor_ := dbms_sql.open_cursor;
 22 
 23    dbms_sql.parse(cursor_, p_sql, dbms_sql.native);
 24 
 25    dbms_sql.describe_columns2(cursor_, cols, desc_tab);
 26 
 27    exe := dbms_sql.execute(cursor_);
 28 
 29    for i in 1 .. cols loop
 30      --print header
 31      dbms_output.put(desc_tab(i).col_name || ';');
 32 
 33      --define columns
 34      case desc_tab(i).col_type
 35        when dbms_types.typecode_varchar then
 36          dbms_sql.define_column(cursor_, i, char_col, 4000);
 37        when dbms_types.typecode_varchar2 then
 38          dbms_sql.define_column(cursor_, i, char_col, 4000);
 39        when dbms_types.typecode_char then
 40          dbms_sql.define_column(cursor_, i, char_col, 4000);
 41        when dbms_types.typecode_number then
 42          dbms_sql.define_column(cursor_, i, num_col);
 43        when dbms_types.typecode_date then
 44          dbms_sql.define_column(cursor_, i, date_col);
 45        else
 46          raise unsupported_type;
 47      end case;
 48    end loop;
 49 
 50    dbms_output.new_line;
 51 
 52    --fetch row
 53    while dbms_sql.fetch_rows(cursor_) > 0 loop
 54      --assign values according to the column types
 55      for i in 1 .. cols loop
 56        case desc_tab(i).col_type
 57          when dbms_types.typecode_varchar then
 58            dbms_sql.column_value(cursor_, i, char_col);
 59            dbms_output.put(replace(char_col,chr(10),'') || ';');
 60          when dbms_types.typecode_varchar2 then
 61            dbms_sql.column_value(cursor_, i, char_col);
 62            dbms_output.put(replace(char_col,chr(10),'') || ';');
 63          when dbms_types.typecode_char then
 64            dbms_sql.column_value(cursor_, i, char_col);
 65            dbms_output.put(replace(char_col,chr(10),'') || ';');
 66          when dbms_types.typecode_number then
 67            dbms_sql.column_value(cursor_, i, num_col);
 68            dbms_output.put(num_col || ';');
 69          when dbms_types.typecode_date then
 70            dbms_sql.column_value(cursor_, i, date_col);
 71            dbms_output.put(to_char(date_col, 'dd/mm/yyyy hh24:mi:ss') || ';');
 72          else
 73            raise unsupported_type;
 74        end case;
 75      end loop;
 76      dbms_output.new_line;
 77    end loop;
 78 
 79    dbms_sql.close_cursor(cursor_);
 80  exception
 81    when fetch_out_of_seq then
 82      dbms_output.new_line;
 83      dbms_output.put_line('End of data.');
 84    when unsupported_type then
 85      dbms_output.new_line;
 86      dbms_output.put_line('Unsupported type in data set.');
 87    when others then
 88      raise;
 89  end pr_universal_data_printer;
 90  /

Procedure created.

SQL> set serveroutput on;
SQL> set autoprint on;
SQL> exec pr_universal_data_printer('select object_name, object_type, status from all_objects where owner =''SYS'' and rownum < 11');
OBJECT_NAME;OBJECT_TYPE;STATUS;                                                
/1000323d_DelegateInvocationHa;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                               
/1000e8d1_LinkedHashMapValueIt;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                               
/1005bd30_LnkdConstant;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                                       
/10076b23_OraCustomDatumClosur;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                               
/100c1606_StandardMidiFileRead;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                               
/10128284_OpenMBeanAttributeIn;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                               
/101419a4_NormalDataCollector;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                                
/1020ed5e_Param;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                                              
/1023e902_OraCharsetUTFE;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                                     
/10297c91_SAXAttrList;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                                        

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> create or replace procedure pr_universal_data_printer2(p_sql in varchar2) is
  2    fetch_out_of_seq exception;
  3    pragma exception_init(fetch_out_of_seq, -1002);
  4 
  5    unsupported_type exception;
  6    pragma exception_init(unsupported_type, -20001);
  7 
  8    weak_ref_cur sys_refcursor;
  9 
 10    desc_tab dbms_sql.desc_tab2;
 11    cols     binary_integer;
 12    cursor_  binary_integer;
 13 
 14    date_col date;
 15    char_col varchar2(4000);
 16    num_col  number;
 17    exe      number;
 18  begin
 19    if weak_ref_cur%isopen then
 20      close weak_ref_cur;
 21    end if;
 22 
 23    open weak_ref_cur for p_sql;
 24 
 25    cursor_ := dbms_sql.to_cursor_number(weak_ref_cur);
 26 
 27    dbms_sql.describe_columns2(cursor_, cols, desc_tab);
 28 
 29    for i in 1 .. cols loop
 30      --print header
 31      dbms_output.put(desc_tab(i).col_name || ';');
 32 
 33      --define columns
 34      case desc_tab(i).col_type
 35        when dbms_types.typecode_varchar then
 36          dbms_sql.define_column(cursor_, i, char_col, 4000);
 37        when dbms_types.typecode_varchar2 then
 38          dbms_sql.define_column(cursor_, i, char_col, 4000);
 39        when dbms_types.typecode_char then
 40          dbms_sql.define_column(cursor_, i, char_col, 4000);
 41        when dbms_types.typecode_number then
 42          dbms_sql.define_column(cursor_, i, num_col);
 43        when dbms_types.typecode_date then
 44          dbms_sql.define_column(cursor_, i, date_col);
 45        else
 46          raise unsupported_type;
 47      end case;
 48    end loop;
 49 
 50    dbms_output.new_line;
 51 
 52    --fetch row
 53    while dbms_sql.fetch_rows(cursor_) > 0 loop
 54      --assign values according to the column types
 55      for i in 1 .. cols loop
 56        case desc_tab(i).col_type
 57          when dbms_types.typecode_varchar then
 58            dbms_sql.column_value(cursor_, i, char_col);
 59            dbms_output.put(replace(char_col,chr(10),'') || ';');
 60          when dbms_types.typecode_varchar2 then
 61            dbms_sql.column_value(cursor_, i, char_col);
 62            dbms_output.put(replace(char_col,chr(10),'') || ';');
 63          when dbms_types.typecode_char then
 64            dbms_sql.column_value(cursor_, i, char_col);
 65            dbms_output.put(replace(char_col,chr(10),'') || ';');
 66          when dbms_types.typecode_number then
 67            dbms_sql.column_value(cursor_, i, num_col);
 68            dbms_output.put(num_col || ';');
 69          when dbms_types.typecode_date then
 70            dbms_sql.column_value(cursor_, i, date_col);
 71            dbms_output.put(to_char(date_col, 'dd/mm/yyyy hh24:mi:ss') || ';');
 72          else
 73            raise unsupported_type;
 74        end case;
 75      end loop;
 76      dbms_output.new_line;
 77    end loop;
 78 
 79    dbms_sql.close_cursor(cursor_);
 80  exception
 81    when fetch_out_of_seq then
 82      dbms_output.new_line;
 83      dbms_output.put_line('End of data.');
 84    when unsupported_type then
 85      dbms_output.new_line;
 86      dbms_output.put_line('Unsupported type in data set.');
 87    when others then
 88      raise;
 89  end pr_universal_data_printer2;
 90  /

Procedure created.

SQL>  exec pr_universal_data_printer2('select object_name, object_type, status from all_objects where owner =''SYS'' and rownum < 11');
OBJECT_NAME;OBJECT_TYPE;STATUS;                                                
/1000323d_DelegateInvocationHa;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                               
/1000e8d1_LinkedHashMapValueIt;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                               
/1005bd30_LnkdConstant;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                                       
/10076b23_OraCustomDatumClosur;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                               
/100c1606_StandardMidiFileRead;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                               
/10128284_OpenMBeanAttributeIn;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                               
/101419a4_NormalDataCollector;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                                
/1020ed5e_Param;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                                              
/1023e902_OraCharsetUTFE;JAVA CLASS;VALID;
/10297c91_SAXAttrList;JAVA CLASS;VALID;                                        

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Collage

The painting above is one year old. It is about a sad man and his crazy bride :) I drew the man, my wife did the dinosaur and my daughter drew the bride and the rest :)

And this one is on the the other side of the paper and has got the rock 'n roll spirit. Whole family worked on that as well.

Is It Love?

Yes, it is :)