Explain what stored procedures are and how they are used

What will be an ideal response?

Stored procedures are modules of code which are stored on the database server. They are usually written in a language specific to the DBMS, such as PL/SQL for Oracle. Stored procedures have many advantages, particularly performance improvements over client-based procedures since the code executes on the server and there is less network traffic. Also, there is increased security since client applications are accessing the stored procedures and not accessing tables directly. In addition, a library of stored procedures can be developed and used across multiple applications.
Since stored procedures are written in a proprietary language, it would be more difficult to port them across platforms. Also, it may take longer to develop the procedures due to the learning curve of programmers.