Outer Join or Function

Question

Hi everyone:
I would like to know which one is faster: The outer join or the function a select statement.
Thanks,

Answer 1

As 3360 pointed out above this question is general enough.
But in the motto - everything what can be done in plain SQL should be done in SQL:
SQL> create or replace function my_function(objid in number)
  2  return number
  3  is
  4   obj_type number;
  5  begin
  6   select object_type_id into obj_type from nc_objects where object_id = objid;
  7   return obj_type;
  8  end;
  9  /
Function created.
Elapsed: 00:00:00.72
SQL> set autotrace traceonly stat
SQL> select (select object_type_id from nc_objects o1 where o1.object_id = o2.object_id) objtype
  2  from nc_objects o2
  3  /
2092663 rows selected.
Elapsed: 00:02:154.90
Statistics
         23  recursive calls
          0  db block gets
    6563019  consistent gets
      23405  physical reads
          0  redo size
   85627517  bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
   15486040  bytes received via SQL*Net from client
     139512  SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
          0  sorts (memory)
          0  sorts (disk)
    2092663  rows processed
SQL> select my_function(object_id) from nc_objects;
2092663 rows selected.
Elapsed: 00:03:212.10
Statistics
    2092686  recursive calls
          0  db block gets
    8516178  consistent gets
          0  physical reads
          0  redo size
   85627532  bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
   15486040  bytes received via SQL*Net from client
     139512  SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
          5  sorts (memory)
          0  sorts (disk)
    2092663  rows processedRgds.