> I have developers who prefer to use the ALL_% views (e.g. ALL_TABLES) > even when I tell them to use the USER_% views (USER_TABLES). > Must be something in their prior experiences that "taught" them to use > the ALL_% views ! Actually, at least in 10gR2 (I think it's 10.2.0.4), I find that all_tables or dba_tables where owner='...' is cheaper in buffer gets than user_tables. I documented the whole story here http://yong321.freeshell.org/oranotes/User_tablesVsAll_tables.txt Not sure if that's true of xxx_synonyms or whether that's still the case in 11g and up.