Placeholder
                                                    v
my $sql = "INSERT INTO my_table (col_string) VALUES(?)";
my $sth = $dbh->prepare($sql);
     ^
  Prepared statement

##</code><code>##

                                                   Placeholder
                                                       v
String sql = "INSERT INTO my_table (col_string) VALUES(?)";
PreparedStatement pstmt = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
                    ^
                 Prepared statement