Oracle 12c

The maximum size of the VARCHAR2, NVARCHAR2, and RAW data types has been increased from 4,000 to 32,767 bytes

Identity columns (SQL feature T174)

Row limiting clause (fetch first, offset clauses, see select first n rows/rows between n and m)).

Invisible columns (which are not returned with select * from … or shown by describe table). They are returned however, if the column is explicitly selected.

Implicit results (dbms_sql.return_result)

SQL Plan management

dbms_java.set_runtime_exec_credentials('DBUSER', 'osuser', 'ospass');

SQL Translation Framework accepts non-Oracle SQL statements and translates the into the Oracle SQL derivative. The SQL translator also converts Oracle error messages into the other vendor specific values expected by an application.

Tables with valid time support. (See SQL: Temporal data). Select statements now have the as of and versions between clauses.

(Transaction time was already supported in 11g Release 1 by Flashback Data Archive as part of Total Recall).

Define a PL/SQL function in a with clause.

utl_call_stack

PL/SQL inquiry directives $$plsql_owner and $$plsql_type. (They augment the already available $$plsql_line and $$plsql_unit, see also conditional compilation).

Maximum length of identifiers increased to 128 (from 30) bytes. (Requires init param compatible to be set to 12.2.0 or higher)

Database In-Memory (with first patch set (12.1.0.2))

deprecate pragma.

big table cache