Generic data type?

I realize that PL/SQL is not object oriented (what a shame, eh?) but I was wondering if there is a generic field/data type. For instance, in MFC C++ there is a generic CObject that everything is derived from, and you can pass CObjects in and out of a function and cast it as necessary outside of the function. There is also a void* type that can be used similarly. Is there a way to declare a field in a table as a generic type and then handle the typing later in the code?

Thanks!

Well PL/SQL (like Oracle itself) does support limited object oriented stuff. And thus there is such a thing as an Object. But this would require that you define all your tables based on Objects as well (AFAIK), which is probably not what you want.

For details have a look at:

http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10501_01/appdev.920/a96624/toc.htm

AnyData could be what you're after.