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Least Expected Cost Query Optimization: An Exercise in Utility

Summary: Challenges standard optimizer assumptions that optimizing for expected parameter values and assuming static runtime parameters yields good plans; these break under high variability. Presents a System R–style algorithm that picks plans with least expected execution cost over parameter distributions, improving robustness in variable environments. (summarized by gpt-5-mini on Feb 09 2026)

Paper ID
1168
Venue
PODS
Year
1999
Pagerank
0.00013115865
Overall Rank
1,234 | 91.43%
DOI
-

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

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Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 24 of 24 citing papers.

Rank Citing Paper Year Venue Pagerank
680 Towards a Robust Query Optimizer: A Principled and Practical Approach 2005 SIGMOD 0.00018193263
686 Pay-as-you-go User Feedback for Dataspace Systems 2008 SIGMOD 0.00018107664
1,268 Proactive Re-Optimization 2005 SIGMOD 0.00012914584
1,297 The Picasso Database Query Optimizer Visualizer 2010 VLDB 0.00012732768
1,990 AniPQO: Almost Non-intrusive Parametric Query Optimization for Nonlinear Cost Functions 2003 VLDB 9.8491124e-05
2,664 Relaxed Currency and Consistency: How to Say "Good Enough" in SQL 2004 SIGMOD 8.3519232e-05
4,342 Identifying Robust Plans through Plan Diagram Reduction 2008 VLDB 6.2680535e-05
4,480 Variance Aware Optimization of Parameterized Queries 2010 SIGMOD 6.1433292e-05
4,517 A Characterization of the Sensitivity of Query Optimization to Storage Access Cost Parameters 2003 SIGMOD 6.1143396e-05
4,618 Adaptive Query Processing in the Looking Glass 2005 CIDR 6.039398e-05
5,344 Efficiently Approximating Query Optimizer Plan Diagrams 2008 VLDB 5.5579641e-05
5,476 On the Production of Anorexic Plan Diagrams 2007 VLDB 5.4866057e-05
5,518 A Top-Down Approach to Achieving Performance Predictability in Database Systems 2017 SIGMOD 5.468383e-05
5,578 CliffGuard: A Principled Framework for Finding Robust Database Designs 2015 SIGMOD 5.4231783e-05
6,277 Uncertainty Aware Query Execution Time Prediction 2014 VLDB 5.1260947e-05
6,561 On the Stability of Plan Costs and the Costs of Plan Stability 2010 VLDB 5.0055336e-05
6,639 Leveraging Query Logs and Machine Learning for Parametric Query Optimization 2022 VLDB 4.976781e-05
7,966 Efficient Top-K Processing Over Query-Dependent Functions 2008 VLDB 4.6089395e-05
8,130 Robust Query Processing: Mission Possible 2020 VLDB 4.5746794e-05
8,162 MONSOON: Multi-Step Optimization and Execution of Queries with Partially Obscured Predicates 2020 SIGMOD 4.5686903e-05
8,440 PARQO: Penalty-Aware Robust Plan Selection in Query Optimization 2024 VLDB 4.505741e-05
9,692 ROME: Robust Query Optimization via Parallel Multi-Plan Execution 2024 SIGMOD 4.2986161e-05
10,757 PAR2QO: Parametric Penalty-Aware Robust Query Optimization 2025 VLDB 4.1905499e-05
12,497 Asking the Right Questions: Model-driven Optimization using Probes 2006 PODS 4.1905499e-05
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Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 9 of 9 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 0.0040465394
63 Improved Histograms for Selectivity Estimation of Range Predicates 1996 SIGMOD 0.00063595699
107 Extensible/Rule Based Query Rewrite Optimization in Starburst 1992 SIGMOD 0.00048363446
221 Efficient Mid-Query Re-Optimization of Sub-Optimal Query Execution Plans 1998 SIGMOD 0.00033182072
342 Optimization of Dynamic Query Evaluation Plans 1994 SIGMOD 0.00026836424
400 Randomized Algorithms For Optimizing Large Join Queries 1990 SIGMOD 0.00024308369
457 Cost-based Query Scrambling for Initial Delays 1998 SIGMOD 0.00022699974
782 Optimization of Large Join Queries: Combining Heuristics and Combinatorial Techniques 1989 SIGMOD 0.00016665859
870 Parametric Query Optimization 1992 VLDB 0.00015709369
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