3 ms·

In a perfect world, I wouldn't disagree; but we don't live in a perfect world where everything always goes your way. Sometimes the planner needs a little help,

• _a_a_a_ 3y ago
  I did say 'typically'! Yes, agreed, but it should rarely need help. Also hints are oh so often jammed in by newbies. I strongly get the impression use of hints is inversely correlated with experience/knowledge.
  • GordonS 3y ago
    I'm a greybeard you cheeky scamp ;) I very rarely used hints in my more database'y days - but every so often, they were needed, and often to tell the database something that seemed screamingly obvious to me. I'm not sure where you got the notion that hints were something noobs would be working with? At least, that certainly wasn't my experience.
    • _a_a_a_ 3y ago
      We are in strong agreement, and the phrasing and measure of your post made it pretty obvious you are knowledgeable (another inverse correlation: absolute opinions launched with violence also seemed to be the realm of newbies; and yours was eminently not). > I very rarely used hints in my more database'y days evidence thereof! > I'm not sure where you got the notion that hints were something noobs would be working with? At least, that certainly wasn't my experience. It's been very, very much my experience. I worked in one place where nolock hints were applied everywhere, without them realising that READ UNCOMMITTED trans iso even existed, so had to show them that, and show them it could be specified at the application layer (not in the SQL). In another recent case I came across their use and I'm damn sure the person who used it didn't actually know what it did. Yeah, I've seen far too much hinting in my career.