Re: Index compression vs. table compression

Richard Foote apparently said,on my timestamp of 24/01/2005 11:08 PM:

> Sorry to everyone (especially Tom ;) for kicking poor innocent "Lookup
> Table" in the teeth again ...

I guess part of the problem is AFAIK Oracle doesn't have a DDL statement like:
CREATE LOOKUP TABLE {...} Referring to any table as "dead horse" above is at best subjective, whatever the target explanation might be.

Because as far as the CBO is concerned, a "dead horse" table is exactly the same as any other table. It only knows about: definitions in the dictionary, bytes, rows, and indexes available. And precious little else.

Assuming of course one has performed whatever incantation is the approved one for their particular version for analyzing data. Or in the case of later versions, the kernel takes the initiative and samples itself.

It really doesn't matter if we call it "dead horse" table, or "dead dog" table, or "dead wombat" table. It's all the same for the CBO: either it judges it should use an index or a FTS. Or any of its little variations of this scenario (hashes, FIS, yadda yadda).

Let's not talk about all the irritating and infuriating different subtleties of each version of Oracle. Like, why is it that in 8i I can define RI in a table and it seemingly doesn't affect parallel DML. While in 9i and 10g I straight away give up parallel DML if I do use a trigger or a RI constraint. Which makes me suspect that deep inside, a constraint is simply an internalized trigger. And all along, in 8i parallel only worked in special cases.

So quite frankly boys, I think the whole subject is a bit of a "lookup table": dead and buried. Too many variables, too much variation for each version.

As for the personal things, I for one don't mind them one bit: there is just too much deification in this industry. We often forget everyone is human. I certainly don't. And God knows how "personal" guys like "Geoff Squire y sus muchachos" got with the likes of me, along the years.

-- 
Cheers
Nuno Souto
in sunny Sydney, Australia
wizofoz2k_at_yahoo.com.au.nospam