11g Named notation in SQL for Constructor functions

One of the 11gR1 enhancements allowed the use of named notation in SQL function calls.

In 11g, you can do
  select utl_raw.cast_from_number(n=> 1) from dual;
In 10g, the same sql will error.

I prefer named notation. You can see in the statement what values are being passed where, and that makes mistakes more obvious. The lack of it for SQL calls wasn't generally a big deal though. Code is generally in packages, and you could always create a wrapper function with a different name. However there's one situation where you can't do that, and that concerns constructor functions.

When you create an SQL type, you get a default constructor where, if you pass in all the attributes in the correct order, it will return an instance of the object.
Example:
  select mdsys.sdo_point_type(1,2,3) from dual;
But sometimes you don't want to specify values for all the attributes, so you create a non-default constructor.

create type address_typ is object
  (street_number  varchar2(10),
  street_name     varchar2(50),
  locality        varchar2(50),
  postcode        varchar2(4),
  state           varchar2(3), 
  CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION
    address_typ(pi_street_number in varchar2 default null, 

              pi_street_name in varchar2 default null,
              pi_locality in varchar2 default null, 

              pi_postcode in varchar2 default null, 

              pi_state in varchar2 default null)
  return self as result,
  CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION address_typ(pi_wide in varchar2)
  return self as result
);
/

create type body address_typ is
  CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION
   address_typ(pi_street_number in varchar2 default null, 

              pi_street_name in varchar2 default null,
              pi_locality in varchar2 default null, 

              pi_postcode in varchar2 default null, 

              pi_state in varchar2 default null)
  return self as result is
  begin
    self.street_number  := pi_street_number;
    self.street_name    := pi_street_name;
    self.locality       := pi_locality;
    self.postcode       := pi_postcode;  
    self.state          := pi_state;
    return; 
  end address_typ;
  --
  CONSTRUCTOR FUNCTION address_typ(pi_wide in varchar2)
  return self as result is
  begin
    self.state := 'NSW'; --dummy line replacing complex parsing routine
    return;
  end address_typ;
end;
/
I have created a type with two constructors. The first replaces the default constructor so that I don't need to specify all the atrributes. The second is an alternative constructor (eg to parse a string into a properly formatted address).

In 10g, if I try

select address_typ('1') from dual;

I get "ORA-06553: PLS-307: too many declarations of 'ADDRESS_TYP' match this call". I can't rename either function as constructors need to have the same name as the object. In 10g, I'd be stuck. Or I'd have to create a function or packaged function to do the job, and end up with code splashed here and there.
.
In 11g, I'd still get the same error, but I have a workaround. I can use
select address_typ(pi_wide => '1') from dual;
As long as the specified parameter names point to a single function, I can use named notation to bypass the problem. Even with constructors, I've got freedom to name my parameters as I please.

Problem solved...for those on 11g at least