Prospective students are strongly encouraged to attend an Information Session and take some time to review the content that is posted here. The Information Session is the best place to bring your questions.
The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) is a non-profit corporation formed to establish, maintain and endorse a standardized set of relevant benchmarks that can be applied to the newest generation of high-performance computers.
Packages usually have two parts, a specification (called the spec) and a body; sometimes the body is unnecessary. The specification is the interface to the package. It declares the types, variables, constants, exceptions, cursors, and subprograms that can be referenced from outside of the package.