To: <pgsql-performance@postgresql.org>
Subject: Different execution plans for semantically equivalent queries
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Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:22:02 +0100
From: Mikkel Lauritsen <renard@tala.dk>
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Hi all,

I have a execution planner related issue that I'd like to have some help
in understanding a bit deeper -

I have a table which basically contains fields for a value, a timestamp
and
a record type which is an integer. I would like to do a query which
retrieves
the newest record for each type, and the persistence framework that I'm
using
does something which is structurally like

SELECT * FROM table t1 WHERE 0 = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table t2 WHERE
    t2.type = t1.type AND t2.timestamp > t1.timestamp)

On all of the PostgreSQL versions I've tried (9.0.2 included) this
executes
in about 20-30 seconds, which isn't exactly stellar. I've tried the (I
think)
equivalent

SELECT * FROM table t1 WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM table t2 WHERE
    t2.type = t1.type AND t2.timestamp > t1.timestamp)

instead, and that executes in about 100 ms, so it's about 200 times
faster.

The two statements have completely different execution plans, so I
understand
why there is a difference in performance, but as I'm unable to modify the
SQL that the persistence framework generates I'd like to know if there's
anything that I can do in order to make the first query execute as fast as
the second one.

I'm more specifically thinking whether I'm missing out on a crucial
planner
configuration knob or something like that, which causes the planner to
treat the two cases differently.

Best regards & thanks for an excellent database engine,
  Mikkel Lauritsen