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Re: Do programmers tune SQL?

From: Stephane Faroult <sfaroult_at_oriole.com>
Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 07:08:26 -0800
Message-ID: <F001.00437B6C.20020401070826@fatcity.com>


John Kanagaraj wrote:
>
> Greg,
>
> The reason may be driven by the requirement of
> 'develop-within-this-deadline' for Developers, and
> 'get-this-query-to-respond-within-1-sec' for DBAs. The DBA's responsibility
> (among others) is to run a well tuned system, the Developers' responsbility
> is to develop a working product, and the two goals twain meet! Also, most
> of the older DBAs - at least I can speak for myself - grew out of
> Development, basically because we showed some troubleshooting abilities and
> were curious about the innards of Oracle and the OS, and this development
> experience helps in tuning. I have known a few developers who knew how to
> tune SQL, but I do admit, they are rare...
>
> John Kanagaraj
> Oracle Applications DBA
> DBSoft Inc
> (W): 408-970-7002
>

I fully agree with both Greg, about how few developers have heard about tuning, and John about the reasons. I find it very unfortunate that most 'performance' courses (and books) are aimed at DBAs. Everybody states (with reason) that most performance gains come from tuning the code, but somehow this is preached to the wrong audience. Sadly, 'tuning' is something quite different from 'writing efficient code' - as a DBA you'll try to do the best out of what you have at your disposal, perhaps a couple of particularly ugly statements, and features available in the latest release. As a developer, you often start designing with one release, most of the development, QA and early production will be done with the next one, and most of the life of the development will occur under the reign of release n+2. Under these conditions, all the fine tuning so many DBAs delight in is a luxury - coding straight is the necessity. Human nature being what it is, making things complicated is much easier than doing them simple. When I read the operating instructions of a VCR (or when I read the instructions to fill my tax return form) I have this tragic feeling of a world crushed by complexity. There would be much to say about the quality of technical management too.
That said, John you ALSO are the exception more than the rule. I have known more than one honest decent DBA who was far from feeling at ease with SQL.

-- 
Regards,

Stephane Faroult
Oriole Software
-- 
Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
-- 
Author: Stephane Faroult
  INET: sfaroult_at_oriole.com

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Received on Mon Apr 01 2002 - 09:08:26 CST

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