What is a stored procedure?

• A. A temporary table created during a session.
• B. A user-defined function that returns a value.
• C. A single SQL statement used for selecting data.
• D. A named, precompiled block of SQL code stored in the database that can be executed on demand.

Answer: (D)

A stored procedure is a named, precompiled block of SQL code stored in the database that can be executed on demand. Being stored in the database means you don’t send each statement separately from an application; you call the procedure by name, optionally passing parameters. Precompiled means the database prepares and optimizes the execution plan once, so running the procedure multiple times can be faster since it reuses that plan. Stored procedures often contain multiple statements (queries, inserts, updates, deletes) and can include control flow, error handling, and returning results or output parameters. They also help enforce security and reuse of logic by centralizing common operations.

The other options don’t fit the concept: a temporary table is a transient data structure created during a session, not a executable program. A user-defined function is a different database object intended to compute and return a value or table, with different usage and restrictions. A single SQL statement used for selecting data is just a query, not a stored program stored in the database.