An Overview of Query Optimization in Relational Systems

Summary: Survey of SQL query optimization in RDBMS: optimizer vs executor, physical operators and execution plans, and why plan selection is performance-critical. Frames optimization as a hard search problem and pinpoints three core tasks—search-space definition, cost estimation, and efficient enumeration. (summarized by gpt-5-mini on Feb 09 2026)

Paper ID: 1127
Venue: PODS
Year: 1998
Pagerank: 0.0002227038
Overall Rank: 290 | 98.02%
DOI: 10.1145/275487.275492

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

1. Surajit Chaudhuri (Microsoft)

BibTeX Citation

@inproceedings{chaudhuri_pods98,
        address = {New York, NY, USA},
        series = {{PODS} '98},
        title = {{An Overview of Query Optimization in Relational Systems}},
        url = {https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/275487.275492},
        doi = {10.1145/275487.275492},
        booktitle = {Proceedings of the {ACM} {SIGMOD} Symposium on {Principles} of {Database} {Systems}},
        publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
        author = {Chaudhuri, Surajit},
        year = {1998}
}

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 50 of 75 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
154	Neo: A Learned Query Optimizer	2019	VLDB	0.00028726181
294	Graphs-at-a-time: Query Language and Access Methods for Graph Databases	2008	SIGMOD	0.00022253507
664	Exploiting Statistics on Query Expressions for Optimization	2002	SIGMOD	0.00015167825
910	Cosette: An Automated Prover for SQL	2017	CIDR	0.00013285905
1,175	Simba: Efficient In-Memory Spatial Analytics	2016	SIGMOD	0.00011812263
1,256	Sampling-Based Query Re-Optimization	2016	SIGMOD	0.00011457194
1,279	AI Meets AI: Leveraging Query Executions to Improve Index Recommendations	2019	SIGMOD	0.00011361878
1,343	DocETL: Agentic Query Rewriting and Evaluation for Complex Document Processing	2025	VLDB	0.00011095866
1,459	SMCQL: Secure Querying for Federated Databases	2017	VLDB	0.00010717725
1,555	Keyword Search in Databases: The Power of RDBMS	2009	SIGMOD	0.00010370683
1,729	Combining Histograms and Parametric Curve Fitting for Feedback-Driven Query Result-Size Estimation	1999	VLDB	9.908788e-05
1,857	Joins via Geometric Resolutions: Worst-case and Beyond	2015	PODS	9.6047945e-05
1,983	Pregelix: Big(ger) Graph Analytics on A Dataflow Engine	2015	VLDB	9.3544951e-05
2,161	DIFF: A Relational Interface for Large-Scale Data Explanation	2019	VLDB	9.0606664e-05
2,313	Active Learning for ML Enhanced Database Systems	2020	SIGMOD	8.762627e-05
2,370	Declarative Recursive Computation on an RDBMS or, Why You Should Use a Database For Distributed Machine Learning	2019	VLDB	8.6795925e-05
2,944	Query Optimizers: Time to Rethink the Contract?	2009	SIGMOD	7.9335187e-05
3,087	How to Win a Hot Dog Eating Contest: Distributed Incremental View Maintenance with Batch Updates	2016	SIGMOD	7.7702906e-05
3,577	Cosine: A Cloud-Cost Optimized Self-Designing Key-Value Storage Engine	2022	VLDB	7.2930211e-05
3,598	Access Path Selection in Main-Memory Optimized Data Systems: Should I Scan or Should I Probe?	2017	SIGMOD	7.2718988e-05
4,436	Serving and Optimizing Machine Learning Workflows on Heterogeneous Infrastructures	2023	VLDB	6.7069035e-05
4,612	Warper: Efficiently Adapting Learned Cardinality Estimators to Data and Workload Drifts	2022	SIGMOD	6.6072026e-05
4,900	COMPASS: Online Sketch-based Query Optimization for In-Memory Databases	2021	SIGMOD	6.4534715e-05
4,945	Lightweight Cardinality Estimation in LSM-based Systems	2018	SIGMOD	6.4321265e-05
5,010	Analyzing the Impact of Cardinality Estimation on Execution Plans in Microsoft SQL Server	2023	VLDB	6.4023732e-05
5,277	FASTgres: Making Learned Query Optimizer Hinting Effective	2023	VLDB	6.2859099e-05
5,470	Efficient Computation of Multiple Group By Queries	2005	SIGMOD	6.2070458e-05
5,552	Enabling Incremental Query Re-Optimization	2016	SIGMOD	6.1778488e-05
5,767	A Comparative Study and Component Analysis of Query Plan Representation Techniques in ML4DB Studies	2024	VLDB	6.0945741e-05
5,982	Size and Treewidth Bounds for Conjunctive Queries	2009	PODS	6.0207284e-05
6,138	Operator and Query Progress Estimation in Microsoft SQL Server Live Query Statistics	2016	SIGMOD	5.9640712e-05
6,371	QUEST: Query Optimization in Unstructured Document Analysis	2025	VLDB	5.8962187e-05
6,423	Memory-Aware Framework for Efficient Second-Order Random Walk on Large Graphs	2020	SIGMOD	5.8813146e-05
6,548	Query Optimization over Crowdsourced Data	2013	VLDB	5.8443704e-05
6,939	Multi-Tenant Cloud Data Services: State-of-the-Art, Challenges and Opportunities	2022	SIGMOD	5.7338637e-05
7,401	Membrane - Safe and Performant Data Access Controls in Apache Spark in the Presence of Imperative Code	2024	VLDB	5.6255291e-05
7,546	MRTuner: A Toolkit to Enable Holistic Optimization for MapReduce Jobs	2014	VLDB	5.6024593e-05
7,747	Convolution and Cross-Correlation of Count Sketches Enables Fast Cardinality Estimation of Multi-Join Queries	2024	SIGMOD	5.5529458e-05
7,795	Distributed Outlier Detection using Compressive Sensing	2015	SIGMOD	5.5429229e-05
7,809	Can Large Language Models Be Query Optimizer for Relational Databases?	2026	SIGMOD	5.5399022e-05
7,829	Robust Query Processing: Mission Possible	2020	VLDB	5.5360082e-05
7,840	From a Stream of Relational Queries to Distributed Stream Processing	2010	VLDB	5.5339505e-05
7,842	Processing and Optimizing Main Memory Spatial-Keyword Queries	2016	VLDB	5.5333985e-05
8,119	User-Optimizer Communication using Abstract Plans in Sybase ASE	2001	VLDB	5.4835315e-05
8,164	SlabCity: Whole-Query Optimization using Program Synthesis	2023	VLDB	5.4750309e-05
8,201	List Intersection for Web Search: Algorithms, Cost Models, and Optimizations	2019	VLDB	5.467444e-05
8,211	MONSOON: Multi-Step Optimization and Execution of Queries with Partially Obscured Predicates	2020	SIGMOD	5.4658735e-05
8,439	New Query Optimization Techniques in the Spark Engine of Azure Synapse	2022	VLDB	5.4248071e-05
8,678	Building Statistical Models and Scoring with UDFs	2007	SIGMOD	5.3864318e-05
8,783	Tiresias: Enabling Predictive Autonomous Storage and Indexing	2022	VLDB	5.3740362e-05

Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 38 of 38 cited papers.

Citations counted here include only citations to other VLDB/SIGMOD/CIDR/PODS papers in this database.

Rank	Cited Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
1	Access Path Selection in a Relational Database Management System	1979	SIGMOD	0.0024089429
16	MAGIC SETS AND OTHER STRANGE WAYS TO IMPLEMENT LOGIC PROGRAMS (Extended Abstract)	1986	PODS	0.00060089598
35	Improved Histograms for Selectivity Estimation of Range Predicates	1996	SIGMOD	0.00048481081
36	Accurate Estimation Of The Number Of Tuples Satisfying A Condition	1984	SIGMOD	0.00048351457
71	Including Group-By in Query Optimization	1994	VLDB	0.00038021159
75	Sampling-Based Estimation of the Number of Distinct Values of an Attribute	1995	VLDB	0.00037277061
95	Of Nests and Trees: A Unified Approach to Processing Queries That Contain Nested Subqueries, Aggregates, and Quantifiers	1987	VLDB	0.00034607909
101	Selectivity Estimation Without the Attribute Value Independence Assumption	1997	VLDB	0.00034376651
110	Extensible/Rule Based Query Rewrite Optimization in Starburst	1992	SIGMOD	0.0003309592
118	Equi-Depth Histograms For Estimating Selectivity Factors For Multi-Dimensional Queries	1988	SIGMOD	0.00031922279
119	The EXODUS Optimizer Generator	1987	SIGMOD	0.0003183602
129	Optimization of Nested SQL Queries Revisited	1987	SIGMOD	0.0003068101
132	Predicate Migration: Optimizing Queries with Expensive Predicates	1993	SIGMOD	0.00030378624
153	Common Expression Analysis in Database Applications	1982	SIGMOD	0.00029032276
166	Query Transformation for PSJ-queries	1987	VLDB	0.00027676268
170	Combining Fuzzy Information from Multiple Systems	1996	PODS	0.00027376361
192	Grammar-like Functional Rules for Representing Query Optimization Alternatives	1988	SIGMOD	0.00026028406
198	Aggregate-Query Processing in Data Warehousing Environments	1995	VLDB	0.00025618616
206	Eager Aggregation and Lazy Aggregation	1995	VLDB	0.00025092273
235	Fast Incremental Maintenance of Approximate Histograms	1997	VLDB	0.00023783792
268	Extensible Query Processing in Starburst	1989	SIGMOD	0.00022788687
316	Measuring the Complexity of Join Enumeration in Query Optimization	1990	VLDB	0.0002141607
396	R* Optimizer Validation and Performance Evaluation for Local Queries	1986	SIGMOD	0.00019287574
474	Dynamic Query Evaluation Plans	1989	SIGMOD	0.00017894953
508	Random Sampling for Histogram Construction: How much is enough?	1998	SIGMOD	0.00017275873
554	Answering Queries with Aggregation Using Views	1996	VLDB	0.00016580778
675	Optimizing Queries over Multimedia Repositories	1996	SIGMOD	0.00015080025
744	Fundamental Techniques for Order Optimization	1996	SIGMOD	0.00014411295
770	Parametric Query Optimization	1992	VLDB	0.00014166811
786	Universality of Serial Histograms	1993	VLDB	0.00014053885
1,012	Improved Unnesting Algorithms for Join Aggregate SQL Queries	1992	VLDB	0.00012682631
1,037	Cost-Based Optimization for Magic: Algebra and Implementation	1996	SIGMOD	0.00012494928
1,052	Query Graphs, Implementing Trees, and Freely-Reorderable Outerjoins	1990	SIGMOD	0.00012405308
1,062	Towards an Open Architecture for LDL	1989	VLDB	0.000123618
1,124	Query Optimization by Predicate Move-Around	1994	VLDB	0.00012087356
1,410	Magic is Relevant	1990	SIGMOD	0.00010853223
2,465	Optimization of Queries with User-defined Predicates	1996	VLDB	8.5428786e-05
3,650	Implementation of Magic-sets in a Relational Database System	1994	SIGMOD	7.2249961e-05

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