Release 11.5 adds the ability to create clustered indexes
on partitioned tables and to access the tables in parallel. See
the Performance and Tuning Guide for more information.
In release 10.0, a heap table’s data was always inserted at the end of a single page chain. This meant that a heap table (for example, a history table) would physically store its newest entries at the end of the page chain, and its oldest entries at the beginning. A simple select statement or cursor scan against such a table could return rows in roughly the same order in which they were inserted.
In release 11.0 you can create partitioned tables that have multiple page chains. Inserts into partitioned tables can occur at the ends of many separate page chains. Data in such a table is not physically stored in sequential order. If you want to view rows from a partitioned table in sequential order, use the order by clause in your select statement.
See the Performance and Tuning Guide for more information about partitions.
