== Why is this an issue? Declaring a variable with the NOT NULL constraint incurs a small performance cost - while this constraint may not really be required. Using such a constraint should be avoided. === Noncompliant code example [source,sql] ---- DECLARE counter PLS_INTEGER NOT NULL := 0; -- Noncompliant BEGIN NULL; END; / ---- === Compliant solution [source,sql] ---- DECLARE counter PLS_INTEGER := 0; -- Compliant BEGIN NULL; END; / ---- ifdef::env-github,rspecator-view[] ''' == Implementation Specification (visible only on this page) === Message Remove this "NOT NULL" constraint. endif::env-github,rspecator-view[]