I was once handed a database with four SQL procedures in it. Each procedure was 6+ pages of run-on PL/SQL. The picture in the original article is frighteningl

I was once handed a database with four SQL procedures in it. Each procedure was 6+ pages of run-on PL/SQL. The picture in the original article is frighteningly close to what I had in hand at that point. Mostly nested cursors and imperative style programming munged into the proc. I've seen other cases, none quite as bad as that one. It tends to be the result of giving a developer who hasn't had any formal training or experience with SQL a requirements doc without any supervision. If all you have ever done is normal imperative coding, you will not even know you are doing it wrong. You can also find some weird SQL created by report generator tools.