Re:'scuse my ignorance but... (Score 1)

May not be a problem with SQL, but a problem with RDMBS' in general. I'm talking about optimzers. Should the burden be on SQL's back to determine optimal execution paths? SQL was never intended to be robust--this is evident in SQL's lack of variables, and lack of procedure (loops, etc). It cannot be viewed as other languages such as C++. I think the key problem here is that RDBMS' are not stepping up to the plate and offering optimzer engines that will intelligently execute generic SQL efficiently. Say you have an application that is running slow. You load the SQL with Oracle hints, analyze your tables on a weekly basis to ensure the cost-based optimizer executes the query in a similar fashion each day. Well, now you are no longer dealing with 'SQL', but instead 'Oracle SQL'. This is a problem next week when you want to switch to DB2. Maybe Oracle should spend more time on optimizers, and attempt to develop a system that will execute SQL consistently and efficiently, according to whatever physical storage characteristics.