This chapter gives a brief introduction to object-oriented extensions in DB2 Universal Database. There are many advantages to using object oriented extensions. User-defined Types (UDT) increase the set of data types available to your applications, while User-defined Functions (UDF) allow for creation of application specific functions. UDFs act as methods for UDTs by providing consistent behavior and encapsulation of the types.
Special registers and system catalogs are discussed next. Special registers are storage areas defined by the database manager; they are used to store information that SQL statements can reference. Special registers are established at connection time and are specific to the processing of that application. The system catalogs contain information about the logical and the physical structure of database objects.
This chapter covers:
A detailed discussion of the above topics is beyond the scope of this book but is presented in the SQL Reference and the Administration Guide.