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: 0.00022509573
Overall Rank: 272 | 98.18%
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 28 of 78 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
8,842	Building Statistical Models and Scoring with UDFs	2007	SIGMOD	5.2657018e-05
8,872	Tiresias: Enabling Predictive Autonomous Storage and Indexing	2022	VLDB	5.2584643e-05
9,173	Towards Enhancing Database Education: Natural Language Generation Meets Query Execution Plans	2021	SIGMOD	5.2135302e-05
9,611	A Theory of Regular Queries	2016	PODS	5.1522425e-05
9,652	Window Function Expression: Let the Self-join Enter	2024	VLDB	5.1453267e-05
9,659	Parallel Query Processing: To Separate Communication from Computation	2022	SIGMOD	5.1453267e-05
9,748	PlinyCompute: A Platform for High-Performance, Distributed, Data-Intensive Tool Development	2018	SIGMOD	5.1349531e-05
9,775	Online Optimization and Fair Costing for Dynamic Data Sharing in a Cloud Data Market	2014	SIGMOD	5.1317143e-05
10,021	Distributed Numerical and Machine Learning Computations via Two-Phase Execution of Aggregated Join Trees	2021	VLDB	5.0943545e-05
10,103	Still Asking: How Good Are Query Optimizers, Really?	2025	VLDB	5.0789354e-05
10,129	ParSEval: Plan-aware Test Database Generation for SQL Equivalence Evaluation	2025	VLDB	5.0751052e-05
10,205	Turbo-Charging SPJ Query Plans with Learned Physical Join Operator Selections	2022	VLDB	5.0603873e-05
10,245	Towards the Scheduling of Vertex-constrained Multi Subgraph Matching Query	2020	SIGMOD	5.0525742e-05
10,334	Efficient Enumeration of Recursive Plans in Transformation-based Query Optimizers	2024	VLDB	5.0254535e-05
10,346	KathDB: Explainable Multimodal Database Management System with Human-AI Collaboration	2026	CIDR	4.9793485e-05
10,434	Detecting Join Bugs in Database Engines via Join Implication Reasoning	2026	SIGMOD	4.9793485e-05
10,513	Towards Selecting Informative Alternative Relational Query Plans for Database Education	2026	SIGMOD	4.9793485e-05
10,798	NeurIDA: Dynamic Modeling for Effective In-Database Analytics	2026	VLDB	4.9793485e-05
10,901	Overlay Bitmap Encoding for Efficient Consumption of Apache Parquet Files	2026	VLDB	4.9793485e-05
11,276	Unraveling the Impact of Window Semantics: Optimizing Join Order for Efficient Stream Processing	2025	VLDB	4.9793485e-05
11,507	Sub-optimal Join Order Identification with L1-error	2024	SIGMOD	4.9793485e-05
11,546	Towards a Converged Relational-Graph Optimization Framework	2024	SIGMOD	4.9793485e-05
11,940	Synchronization Schemas	2021	PODS	4.9793485e-05
12,375	Parallel Evaluation of Multi-Semi-Joins	2016	VLDB	4.9793485e-05
12,752	Ten Thousand SQLs: Parallel Keyword Queries Computing	2010	VLDB	4.9793485e-05
12,786	A Framework for Testing Query Transformation Rules	2009	SIGMOD	4.9793485e-05
12,793	Ordering, Distinctness, Aggregation, Partitioning and DQP Optimization in Sybase ASE 15	2009	SIGMOD	4.9793485e-05
13,089	The NEXT Framework for Logical XQuery Optimization	2004	VLDB	4.9793485e-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	0.0023947656
18	MAGIC SETS AND OTHER STRANGE WAYS TO IMPLEMENT LOGIC PROGRAMS (Extended Abstract)	1986	PODS	0.00059023577
36	Accurate Estimation Of The Number Of Tuples Satisfying A Condition	1984	SIGMOD	0.00047863192
37	Improved Histograms for Selectivity Estimation of Range Predicates	1996	SIGMOD	0.00047731453
73	Including Group-By in Query Optimization	1994	VLDB	0.00037522101
77	Sampling-Based Estimation of the Number of Distinct Values of an Attribute	1995	VLDB	0.00036828234
97	Of Nests and Trees: A Unified Approach to Processing Queries That Contain Nested Subqueries, Aggregates, and Quantifiers	1987	VLDB	0.00034124569
103	Selectivity Estimation Without the Attribute Value Independence Assumption	1997	VLDB	0.00033894985
109	Extensible/Rule Based Query Rewrite Optimization in Starburst	1992	SIGMOD	0.0003276959
118	The EXODUS Optimizer Generator	1987	SIGMOD	0.00031392616
119	Equi-Depth Histograms For Estimating Selectivity Factors For Multi-Dimensional Queries	1988	SIGMOD	0.0003137356
125	Predicate Migration: Optimizing Queries with Expensive Predicates	1993	SIGMOD	0.00030470848
132	Optimization of Nested SQL Queries Revisited	1987	SIGMOD	0.00030241193
155	Common Expression Analysis in Database Applications	1982	SIGMOD	0.00028527932
167	Query Transformation for PSJ-queries	1987	VLDB	0.00027190004
172	Combining Fuzzy Information from Multiple Systems	1996	PODS	0.00026835705
196	Grammar-like Functional Rules for Representing Query Optimization Alternatives	1988	SIGMOD	0.00025626873
202	Aggregate-Query Processing in Data Warehousing Environments	1995	VLDB	0.00025244649
213	Eager Aggregation and Lazy Aggregation	1995	VLDB	0.00024759805
242	Fast Incremental Maintenance of Approximate Histograms	1997	VLDB	0.00023363722
273	Extensible Query Processing in Starburst	1989	SIGMOD	0.00022504729
321	Measuring the Complexity of Join Enumeration in Query Optimization	1990	VLDB	0.00021088704
397	R* Optimizer Validation and Performance Evaluation for Local Queries	1986	SIGMOD	0.00019157058
476	Dynamic Query Evaluation Plans	1989	SIGMOD	0.00017640534
519	Random Sampling for Histogram Construction: How much is enough?	1998	SIGMOD	0.00016942879
567	Answering Queries with Aggregation Using Views	1996	VLDB	0.00016272161
686	Optimizing Queries over Multimedia Repositories	1996	SIGMOD	0.00014775707
724	Fundamental Techniques for Order Optimization	1996	SIGMOD	0.00014477566
792	Parametric Query Optimization	1992	VLDB	0.00013942753
806	Universality of Serial Histograms	1993	VLDB	0.00013792174
1,015	Improved Unnesting Algorithms for Join Aggregate SQL Queries	1992	VLDB	0.00012500439
1,032	Cost-Based Optimization for Magic: Algebra and Implementation	1996	SIGMOD	0.00012401489
1,057	Query Graphs, Implementing Trees, and Freely-Reorderable Outerjoins	1990	SIGMOD	0.00012231557
1,075	Towards an Open Architecture for LDL	1989	VLDB	0.0001215903
1,119	Query Optimization by Predicate Move-Around	1994	VLDB	0.00011950395
1,438	Magic is Relevant	1990	SIGMOD	0.00010648031
2,516	Optimization of Queries with User-defined Predicates	1996	VLDB	8.3610198e-05
3,707	Implementation of Magic-sets in a Relational Database System	1994	SIGMOD	7.0820673e-05

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