1. A method of executing a statement in a computer, the statement being executed by the computer to manipulate data in a database stored on a data storage device connected to the computer, the method comprising the steps of: preparing a first statement to create an executable structure for executing the first statement from an application; storing the executable structure in an application-level cache associated with the application across a commit operation; receiving a second statement for execution from the application; determining that the second statement can be executed using the stored executable structure for the first statement; and executing the second statement using the stored executable structure.