--- In IB-Architect@egroups.com, "Jason Wharton" <jwharton@i...>
wrote:

> > Yes, but time has changed, so that interactive applications
> > are more common than simple batch processing;
> > it means that time to first record _is_ often important.
> > Retrieving only part of result set is also important,
> > especially with internet applications.
>
> I agree very much so.
>

<snip>

> What I would love to see is the ability to give the optimizer a hint

that it

> is more desirable for the first n records to be fetched than

assuming it is

> a whole batch job where all records are going to be fetched.
>
> One way this could be accomplished is to take advantage of the ALL

keyword.

>
> SELECT ALL col1, col2 FROM TABLE
>
> This would signify that it is going to be a batch job where all

records will

> be fetched. <snip>

I hesitate to interrupt, but at present, the presence of the ALL
keyword on a SELECT statement doesn't tell you anything about the size
or intended use of the result set. Are you suggesting that it should
be used for that purpose?

Cheers,
db