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: h723b36784e63ad88
Venue: PODS
Year: 1998
Pagerank: 0.00022881075
Overall Rank: 259 | 98.27%
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 79 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
142	Neo: A Learned Query Optimizer	2019	VLDB	0.00029114937
288	Graphs-at-a-time: Query Language and Access Methods for Graph Databases	2008	SIGMOD	0.00022009138
630	DocETL: Agentic Query Rewriting and Evaluation for Complex Document Processing	2025	VLDB	0.00015402076
646	Exploiting Statistics on Query Expressions for Optimization	2002	SIGMOD	0.00015166402
787	Cosette: An Automated Prover for SQL	2017	CIDR	0.00013959502
1,183	Simba: Efficient In-Memory Spatial Analytics	2016	SIGMOD	0.00011589152
1,261	Sampling-Based Query Re-Optimization	2016	SIGMOD	0.00011289724
1,282	AI Meets AI: Leveraging Query Executions to Improve Index Recommendations	2019	SIGMOD	0.00011197535
1,499	SMCQL: Secure Querying for Federated Databases	2017	VLDB	0.00010445281
1,505	Keyword Search in Databases: The Power of RDBMS	2009	SIGMOD	0.00010424285
1,754	Combining Histograms and Parametric Curve Fitting for Feedback-Driven Query Result-Size Estimation	1999	VLDB	9.7111856e-05
1,821	Joins via Geometric Resolutions: Worst-case and Beyond	2015	PODS	9.5466386e-05
2,011	Pregelix: Big(ger) Graph Analytics on A Dataflow Engine	2015	VLDB	9.1800407e-05
2,167	DIFF: A Relational Interface for Large-Scale Data Explanation	2019	VLDB	8.9166414e-05
2,290	Active Learning for ML Enhanced Database Systems	2020	SIGMOD	8.6813363e-05
2,407	Declarative Recursive Computation on an RDBMS or, Why You Should Use a Database For Distributed Machine Learning	2019	VLDB	8.4928721e-05
2,888	Query Optimizers: Time to Rethink the Contract?	2009	SIGMOD	7.8895201e-05
3,138	How to Win a Hot Dog Eating Contest: Distributed Incremental View Maintenance with Batch Updates	2016	SIGMOD	7.5866991e-05
3,489	Cosine: A Cloud-Cost Optimized Self-Designing Key-Value Storage Engine	2022	VLDB	7.2421958e-05
3,513	Serving and Optimizing Machine Learning Workflows on Heterogeneous Infrastructures	2023	VLDB	7.2253231e-05
3,606	Access Path Selection in Main-Memory Optimized Data Systems: Should I Scan or Should I Probe?	2017	SIGMOD	7.1528863e-05
4,459	Warper: Efficiently Adapting Learned Cardinality Estimators to Data and Workload Drifts	2022	SIGMOD	6.5757572e-05
4,583	QUEST: Query Optimization in Unstructured Document Analysis	2025	VLDB	6.5079225e-05
5,029	COMPASS: Online Sketch-based Query Optimization for In-Memory Databases	2021	SIGMOD	6.2952031e-05
5,044	Analyzing the Impact of Cardinality Estimation on Execution Plans in Microsoft SQL Server	2023	VLDB	6.2888728e-05
5,056	Lightweight Cardinality Estimation in LSM-based Systems	2018	SIGMOD	6.282339e-05
5,245	FASTgres: Making Learned Query Optimizer Hinting Effective	2023	VLDB	6.1995935e-05
5,484	A Comparative Study and Component Analysis of Query Plan Representation Techniques in ML4DB Studies	2024	VLDB	6.0980944e-05
5,598	Efficient Computation of Multiple Group By Queries	2005	SIGMOD	6.053914e-05
5,673	Enabling Incremental Query Re-Optimization	2016	SIGMOD	6.0252485e-05
6,051	Size and Treewidth Bounds for Conjunctive Queries	2009	PODS	5.8865476e-05
6,243	Operator and Query Progress Estimation in Microsoft SQL Server Live Query Statistics	2016	SIGMOD	5.8220831e-05
6,315	Memory-Aware Framework for Efficient Second-Order Random Walk on Large Graphs	2020	SIGMOD	5.7968933e-05
6,584	Can Large Language Models Be Query Optimizer for Relational Databases?	2026	SIGMOD	5.72395e-05
6,615	Multi-Objective Agentic Rewrites for Unstructured Data Processing	2026	VLDB	5.7164252e-05
6,684	Query Optimization over Crowdsourced Data	2013	VLDB	5.6940605e-05
6,768	Multi-Tenant Cloud Data Services: State-of-the-Art, Challenges and Opportunities	2022	SIGMOD	5.6693759e-05
7,487	Membrane - Safe and Performant Data Access Controls in Apache Spark in the Presence of Imperative Code	2024	VLDB	5.4995746e-05
7,587	Convolution and Cross-Correlation of Count Sketches Enables Fast Cardinality Estimation of Multi-Join Queries	2024	SIGMOD	5.4745198e-05
7,653	MRTuner: A Toolkit to Enable Holistic Optimization for MapReduce Jobs	2014	VLDB	5.4592529e-05
7,941	SlabCity: Whole-Query Optimization using Program Synthesis	2023	VLDB	5.4056478e-05
7,975	Robust Query Processing: Mission Possible	2020	VLDB	5.3985544e-05
7,976	Distributed Outlier Detection using Compressive Sensing	2015	SIGMOD	5.3981912e-05
8,012	From a Stream of Relational Queries to Distributed Stream Processing	2010	VLDB	5.3911783e-05
8,023	Processing and Optimizing Main Memory Spatial-Keyword Queries	2016	VLDB	5.3888101e-05
8,188	Efficient Query Re-optimization with Judicious Subquery Selections	2023	SIGMOD	5.3649397e-05
8,286	User-Optimizer Communication using Abstract Plans in Sybase ASE	2001	VLDB	5.3449621e-05
8,361	MONSOON: Multi-Step Optimization and Execution of Queries with Partially Obscured Predicates	2020	SIGMOD	5.3310744e-05
8,388	List Intersection for Web Search: Algorithms, Cost Models, and Optimizations	2019	VLDB	5.3257622e-05
8,539	New Query Optimization Techniques in the Spark Engine of Azure Synapse	2022	VLDB	5.3048225e-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	0.0023948467
18	MAGIC SETS AND OTHER STRANGE WAYS TO IMPLEMENT LOGIC PROGRAMS (Extended Abstract)	1986	PODS	0.00058816744
36	Accurate Estimation Of The Number Of Tuples Satisfying A Condition	1984	SIGMOD	0.00047770864
37	Improved Histograms for Selectivity Estimation of Range Predicates	1996	SIGMOD	0.00047654188
73	Including Group-By in Query Optimization	1994	VLDB	0.00037420958
78	Sampling-Based Estimation of the Number of Distinct Values of an Attribute	1995	VLDB	0.00036725074
99	Of Nests and Trees: A Unified Approach to Processing Queries That Contain Nested Subqueries, Aggregates, and Quantifiers	1987	VLDB	0.00034024478
103	Selectivity Estimation Without the Attribute Value Independence Assumption	1997	VLDB	0.00033847446
109	Extensible/Rule Based Query Rewrite Optimization in Starburst	1992	SIGMOD	0.00032702871
118	The EXODUS Optimizer Generator	1987	SIGMOD	0.00031320165
119	Equi-Depth Histograms For Estimating Selectivity Factors For Multi-Dimensional Queries	1988	SIGMOD	0.00031291457
125	Predicate Migration: Optimizing Queries with Expensive Predicates	1993	SIGMOD	0.00030398363
133	Optimization of Nested SQL Queries Revisited	1987	SIGMOD	0.0003015194
155	Common Expression Analysis in Database Applications	1982	SIGMOD	0.0002844242
168	Query Transformation for PSJ-queries	1987	VLDB	0.00027117709
170	Combining Fuzzy Information from Multiple Systems	1996	PODS	0.0002707332
197	Grammar-like Functional Rules for Representing Query Optimization Alternatives	1988	SIGMOD	0.00025558952
204	Aggregate-Query Processing in Data Warehousing Environments	1995	VLDB	0.0002516936
213	Eager Aggregation and Lazy Aggregation	1995	VLDB	0.00024695393
242	Fast Incremental Maintenance of Approximate Histograms	1997	VLDB	0.00023327437
275	Extensible Query Processing in Starburst	1989	SIGMOD	0.000224395
322	Measuring the Complexity of Join Enumeration in Query Optimization	1990	VLDB	0.00021032289
396	R* Optimizer Validation and Performance Evaluation for Local Queries	1986	SIGMOD	0.00019119719
479	Dynamic Query Evaluation Plans	1989	SIGMOD	0.00017595584
518	Random Sampling for Histogram Construction: How much is enough?	1998	SIGMOD	0.00016918797
567	Answering Queries with Aggregation Using Views	1996	VLDB	0.00016228477
687	Optimizing Queries over Multimedia Repositories	1996	SIGMOD	0.00014736766
726	Fundamental Techniques for Order Optimization	1996	SIGMOD	0.0001443284
792	Parametric Query Optimization	1992	VLDB	0.00013903954
806	Universality of Serial Histograms	1993	VLDB	0.00013752086
1,015	Improved Unnesting Algorithms for Join Aggregate SQL Queries	1992	VLDB	0.00012468327
1,032	Cost-Based Optimization for Magic: Algebra and Implementation	1996	SIGMOD	0.00012376627
1,063	Query Graphs, Implementing Trees, and Freely-Reorderable Outerjoins	1990	SIGMOD	0.00012198695
1,076	Towards an Open Architecture for LDL	1989	VLDB	0.00012128405
1,122	Query Optimization by Predicate Move-Around	1994	VLDB	0.00011915958
1,443	Magic is Relevant	1990	SIGMOD	0.00010618161
2,521	Optimization of Queries with User-defined Predicates	1996	VLDB	8.3339593e-05
3,702	Implementation of Magic-sets in a Relational Database System	1994	SIGMOD	7.0617354e-05

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2	7,619	On the Calculation of Optimality Ranges for Relational Query Execution Plans	2018	SIGMOD
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