BTW, proper tools should do this parsing optimization for developer. Oracle´s Java Developer ADF framework is quite good in that respect. Anyway, a good Java developer should know this concept at least in order to be able to evaluate Java technologies. -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Norman Dunbar ... so the so called prepared statement is treated as just another unprepared statement. The code really should be as follows : begin if statement in not yet prepared then parse statement end if bind variables execute statement process results end ... Fyrirvari/Disclaimer http://www.landsbanki.is/disclaimer -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l