Re: a general ? on select performance - Mailing list pgsql-sql

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
-qt-user-state:0;">OnSaturday, August 28, 2010 08:35:07 am Tom Lane wrote:<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px;
margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> John Fabiani
<johnf@jfcomputer.com>writes:<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;
-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> > I have program that loops though several thousands of
records.The loop<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0;
text-indent:0px;-qt-user-state:0;">> > contains a select statement that confirms that I don't have a dup and<p
style="margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
-qt-user-state:0;">>> then inserts a record into a different table. IOW's the statement is<p style="
margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
-qt-user-state:0;">>> checking against a static table. The size of the table I'm checking<p style="
margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
-qt-user-state:0;">>> does not change during the loop. I'm sure many have done something<p style="
margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
-qt-user-state:0;">>> similar.<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;
-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px;
margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> Are you really, truly
making*no* changes to the table you're reading?<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> <p style=" margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> What
I'msuspecting is that you are making such changes, in fact lots<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px;
margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> of them. The number of
liverows may not change, but the table is<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> bloating with lots of dead row versions,
whichcan't be cleaned up yet<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;
-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> since the transaction that deleted them is still open. This
leadsto<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0;
text-indent:0px;-qt-user-state:0;">> O(N^2) or worse slowdown.<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px;
margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> <p style="
margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
-qt-user-state:0;">>There are usually ways around this type of problem, but we'd need more<p style=" margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">>
detailsabout what you're really doing.<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;
-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px;
margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> regards, tom lane<p
style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty;margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;
-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px;-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">I'm not making any changes to the lookup
table.But I did discover the performance problem - rather I was helped into the light (used the IRC). There is a custom
functionin my select statement. It turns out that the function was labeled as "<span style=" font-family:'Courier
New,courier';">VOLATILE"and a simple change to 'STABLE' made all the difference in the world. I was not aware of this
setting(I won't forget it). Learn something everyday! </span><p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;
font-family:'CourierNew,courier';"><p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;
-qt-block-indent:0;text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><span style=" font-family:'Courier New,courier';">But your
answerhas me thinking. I often do exactly what you are describing (of course not for thousands of records). So how does
oneget around the issues bloat?</span><p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px;
margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0; font-family:'Courier
New,courier';"><pstyle=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0;
text-indent:0px;-qt-user-state:0;"><span style=" font-family:'Courier New,courier';">Johnf </span>