"My rule of thumb is always to use an explicit cursor for all SELECT statements in my applications, even if an implicit cursor might run a little faster...
"By setting and following this clear-cut rule, I give myself one less thing to think about. I do not have to determine if a particular SELECT statement will return only one row...I do not have to wonder about the conditions under which a single-row query might suddenly return more than one row, thus requiring a TOO_MANY_ROWS exception handler. I am guaranteed to get vastly improved programmatic control over the data access and more finely-tuned exception handling for the cursor."
From page 166 of O'Reilly's _Oracle PL/SQL Programming_
Maybe the ACS team read the same, and put it into practice.
