SHARED_POOL_SIZE (Oracle)
This parameter specifies the size of the shared pool in the SGA in bytes. The shared pool is made up of several memory structures. Most important among these are the data dictionary cache and the library cache (containing the shared SQL area).
Previous Oracle versions provided a more detailed approach to tuning these memory structures. With Oracle 7, these memory areas are dynamically managed by Oracle through the setting of this parameter.
See also:
Monitoring the Shared Pool (Oracle)