"(+)" Can be used in Oracle, and 9i can use left/right/full outer join.
Left Outer Join: left Outer Join
Select E. last_name, E. department_id, D. department_name
From employees e
Left Outer Join orders ments d
On (E. department_id = D. department_id );
Equivalent
Select E. last_name, E. department_id, D. department_name
From employees e, departments d
Where E. department_id = D. department_id (+)
Result: Records of all employees and their respective departments, including records of employees who do not have the corresponding department number department_id.
Right outer join: Right Outer Join
Select E. last_name, E. department_id, D. department_name
From employees e
Right Outer Join orders ments d
On (E. department_id = D. department_id );
Equivalent
Select E. last_name, E. department_id, D. department_name
From employees e, departments d
Where E. department_id (+) = D. department_id
Result: Records of all employees and their respective departments, including records of departments without any employees.
Full outer join: Full outer join
Select E. last_name, E. department_id, D. department_name
From employees e
Full outer join orders ments d
On (E. department_id = D. department_id );
Result: Records of all employees and their respective departments, including employee records without the corresponding department number department_id and department records without any employees.