Re: is Oracle technically better than Ingres ?

From: Tony Douglas <tonyisyourpal_at_netscape.net>
Date: 9 Aug 2004 02:14:23 -0700
Message-ID: <bcb8c360.0408090114.762defa7_at_posting.google.com>


michaelnewport_at_yahoo.com (michael newport) wrote in message news:<63b202d.0408030438.fbe8e64_at_posting.google.com>...

<snip>

> In Oracle, when the user runs a report (the next day) from the table,
> it is slower than it should be as the 'order by' is done at run time.
> It seems that I cannot pre-order the data (though I have tried).
>
> In Ingres I used to do this easily with :-
> modify <table> to btree unique on <field1>, <field2>, <field3>
>

In other words, your routine had previously relied on an implementation quirk/feature/nicety of the Ingres btree structure - and a quirk/feature/nicety that wasn't guaranteed to continue indefinitely. And you'd best hope your DBA didn't decide hash or isam would be a better organisation for your table at some point ;)

The bottom line is simple - if you want your result set in a particular order, guaranteed, whichever product you're using - it's time for "order by".

  • Tony

(PS. I might be wrong, but aren't there circumstances in Ingres 2.6 where this btree "feature" no longer holds true ? ISTR being advised not to rely on it any more...) Received on Mon Aug 09 2004 - 11:14:23 CEST

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