Best Practice for Extracting a Single Value from Oracle Table

Question

I'm using Oracle Database 11g Release 11.2.0.3.0.
I'd like to know the best practice for doing something like this in a PL/SQL block:
DECLARE
    v_student_id    student.student_id%TYPE;
BEGIN
    SELECT  student_id
    INTO    v_student_id
    FROM    student
    WHERE   last_name = 'Smith'
    AND     ROWNUM = 1;
END;
Of course, the problem here is that when there is no hit, the NO_DATA_FOUND exception is raised, which halts execution.  So what if I want to continue in spite of the exception?
Yes, I could create a nested block with EXCEPTION section, etc., but that seems clunky for what seems to be a very simple task.
I've also seen this handled like this:
DECLARE
    v_student_id    student.student_id%TYPE;
    CURSOR c_student_id IS
        SELECT  student_id
        FROM    student
        WHERE   last_name = 'Smith'
        AND     ROWNUM = 1;
BEGIN
    OPEN c_student_id;
    FETCH c_student_id INTO v_student_id;
    IF c_student_id%NOTFOUND THEN
        DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('not found');
    ELSE
        (do stuff)
    END IF;
    CLOSE c_student_id;   
END;
But this still seems like killing an ant with a sledge hammer.
What's the best way?
Thanks for any help you can give.
Wayne

Answer 1

Do not design in order to avoid exceptions. Do not code in order to avoid exceptions.
Exceptions are good. Damn good. As it allows you to catch an unexpected process branch, where execution did not go as planned and coded.
Trying to avoid exceptions is just plain bloody stupid.
As for you specific problem. When the SQL fails to find a row and a value to return, what then? This is unexpected - if you did not want a value, you would not have coded the SQL to find a value. So the SQL not finding a value is an exception to what you intend with your code. And you need to decide what to do with that exception.
How to implement it. The #1 rule in software engineering - modularisation.
E.g.
create or replace function FindSomething( name varchar2 ) return foo.col1%type is
  id foo.col1%type;
begin
  select col1 into id from foo where col2 = upper(name);
  return( id );
exception when NOT_FOUND then
  return( null );
end;
And that is your problem. Modularisation. You are not considering it.
And not the only problem mind you. Seems like your keyboard has a stuck capslock key. Writing code in all uppercase is just as bloody silly as trying to avoid exceptions.