Oracle中tab和dual的区别

某日看代码，发现在代码中有一个tab，起的作用和dual差不多，于是就想两者之间的区别，查到资料如下：

Tab is a view, as seen:

create or replace view sys.tab as
select o.name,
    decode(o.type#, 2, 'TABLE', 3, 'CLUSTER',
           4, 'VIEW', 5, 'SYNONYM'), t.tab#
from  sys.tab$ t, sys.obj$ o
where o.owner# = userenv('SCHEMAID')
and o.type# >=2
and o.type# <=5
and o.linkname is null
and o.obj# = t.obj# ( )

Dual is a table with a unique column.
This column is a dummy varchar, that returns what you type.
That´s why if you type select * from dual, the result will be 'X'.

参考资料：

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Oracle-1451/tab-dual-1.htm