1 Introduction

Oracle Database 23c Free – Developer Release is the first release of the next-generation Oracle Database, allowing developers a head-start on building applications with some of the new 23c features.

Here are some highlights.

JSON Relational Duality

Data can be transparently accessed and updated as either JSON documents or relational tables.

Developers benefit from the strengths of both, which are simpler and more powerful than Object Relational Mapping (ORM).

See JSON-Relational Duality.

Operational Property Graphs in SQL

Developers can now build real-time graph analysis applications against operational data directly in the Oracle Database, utilizing its industry leading security, high availability and performance capabilities.

See Property Graph: Native Representation of Graphs in Oracle Database.

Microservice Support

Alongside Oracle’s already comprehensive support for microservices, new functionality makes it simpler to implement cross-service transactions.

See Microservices.

Lock-Free Column Value Reservations

Lock-free column value reservations allow applications to reserve part of a value in a column without locking the row; for example, reserve part of a bank account balance or reserve an item in inventory without locking out all other operations on the bank account or item.

See Lock-Free Reservations.

Kafka APIs for TxEventQ

Kafka applications can now run directly against the Oracle Database with minimal code changes, leveraging high performance Transaction Event Queues (TxEventQ).

See Kafka APIs for TxEventQ.

JavaScript Stored Procedures

Developers can now create stored procedures using JavaScript in the database. This functionality also allows developers to leverage the huge number of JavaScript libraries.

See JavaScript.

Application Usage Domains

Application Usage Domains allow developers to declare the intended usage of data (columns) in a centralized and light-weight manner. For example, declare a column holds an email, URL, password, currency, etc. Apps can use Application Usage Domains to automatically generate code or verify values.

See Application Usage Domains.

Many Datatype and SQL Enhancements

The following are among the many datatype and SQL enhancements:

• SQL BOOLEAN Data Type
• Direct Joins for UPDATE and DELETE Statements
• Unicode 15.0 Support
• SELECT Without FROM Clause
• GROUP BY Column Alias or Position

Up to 4096 Columns per Table

Database tables now support up to 4096 columns. This feature simplifies the development of applications needing large numbers of attributes, such as ML and IoT.

See Wide Tables.

Improved Machine Learning Algorithms

New improvements to Oracle In-Database Machine Learning algorithms make it simpler to categorize text and data while offering better performance and flexibility.

See Machine Learning.

Schema Privileges

System privileges can now be granted at the schema level. This feature simplifies the privilege management process and as a result, makes it easy to secure databases.

See Schema-Level Privileges to Simplify Access Control.

Developer Role

A new role allows administrators to quickly assign developers only the privileges they need to design, build, and deploy applications for the Oracle Database.

See New Database Role for Application Developers.

SQL Firewall

Included in Oracle Database, SQL Firewall provides real-time protection against common database attacks by monitoring and blocking unauthorized SQL and SQL injection attacks, no matter the SQL execution path.

See Oracle SQL Firewall Included in Oracle Database.

Azure AD OAuth2 Integration

New functionality enables single sign-on to Oracle Database service instances or on-premises Oracle Databases from Microsoft Azure Cloud.

See JDBC Support for OAuth 2.0 Including OCI IAM and Azure AD.