Re: Indexing NULL in the Oracle Database, is this the best practice?

Indeed Liz.

There are of course hints and then there are hints. My deity sprinkles the latter category with caveats and comments like "Caution My experiments with the opt_estimate hint showed the effects changing across different versions of 10.1. Do not try using it as a hint on a production system until it is documented for public use". This doesn't fill me with much confidence at all, and at the time I very much appreciated the warning.

~

Mike
Long suffering Developer

> On 3 Jan 2017, at 22:31, Reen, Elizabeth <elizabeth.reen_at_citi.com> wrote:
>
> Hinting is done by my developers all the time. My ETL team is very fond of the ROWID hint. L
>
>
>
> Liz
> Long suffering DBA
>
> From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org <mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org> [mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org <mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org>] On Behalf Of Mladen Gogala
> Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2017 1:35 PM
> To: Michael D O'Shea/Woodward Informatics Ltd
> Cc: oracle-l_at_freelists.org <mailto:oracle-l_at_freelists.org>
> Subject: Re: Indexing NULL in the Oracle Database, is this the best practice?
>
> On 01/01/2017 06:49 AM, Michael D O'Shea/Woodward Informatics Ltd wrote:
> > I am not a big fan of using semi documented functions like
> > that, because developers usually don't know anything about them.
>
> And yet we accept Oracle SQL 'hinting' without challenge, despite such demonstrably poor Oracle documentation.
>
> —
>
> Michael D. O’Shea
> Woodward Informatics Ltd: http://www.strychnine.co.uk <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.strychnine.co.uk&d=DQMDaQ&c=j-EkbjBYwkAB4f8ZbVn1Fw&r=yWMFosURAngbt8VLeJtKLVJGefQxustAZ9UxecV7xpc&m=_mnlof3zKcLAkGNG_TbERNsRsz6_XFT7tUY3mMJPxPM&s=zr196rxAdzQPuuops1rp5AeyL4PiYtFemvup4lA2kRE&e=>
>
>
> Hinting is usually done by the DBA, who should know the basic hints and how to use them. Other than that, I am not sure who are "we" and how do "we" accept Oracle SQL hinting without challenge? Given that hints are usually issued by the DBA, what would that challenge look like? DBA walking on the walls of the Elsinore castle, and saying something like "to hint, or not to hint, that is the question now"? Besides the dubious literary value, I am not sure that such a soliloquy would have any effect of on the functioning of the database(s) entrusted to the DBA.
>
>
> --
> Mladen Gogala
> Oracle DBA
> http://mgogala.freehostia.com <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__mgogala.freehostia.com&d=DQMDaQ&c=j-EkbjBYwkAB4f8ZbVn1Fw&r=yWMFosURAngbt8VLeJtKLVJGefQxustAZ9UxecV7xpc&m=_mnlof3zKcLAkGNG_TbERNsRsz6_XFT7tUY3mMJPxPM&s=Dj0esyOH4a43g6VFrhKPjnDY0MAiASZekNYQ_WT76RE&e=>

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