> This begs the question of how the optimizer should decide > whether it's safe to merge a subquery and main query. > Clearly, the optimizer seems to have made the wrong call > in the case of the query we've been talking about. I actually agree with both sides: - with Wolfgang that a true relational database is meant to work with "relational" queries and doesn't have to support any ill constructions which users come up with. - on the other hand I definitely agree with Stephen and Jonathan that a $40000 per CPU modern commercial database product should be able to work around this kind of issue by itself. Tanel. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. -- Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/ FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html -----------------------------------------------------------------