Software Code Areas

Software code areas are portions of memory used to store code that is being run or can
be run. Oracle code is stored in a software  area that is typically at a different location
from users’ programs—a more ex clusive or protected location.
Software areas are usually static in size, ch anging only when software is updated or
reinstalled. The required size of these areas varies by operating system.
Software areas are read only and can be installed shared or nonshared. When possible,
Oracle code is shared so that all Oracle users can access it without having multiple
copies in memory. This results in a saving  of real main memory and improves overall
performance.
User programs can be shared or nonshared. Some Oracle tools and utilities (such as
Oracle Forms and SQL*Plus) can be installed shared, but some cannot. Multiple
instances of Oracle can use the same Oracle code area with different databases if
running on the same computer.