Query processing (also known as Query Optimization)

(Query Processing in DBMS is the approach of selecting the best strategy

or plan which can be used to respond to a database request)

 It is a process of translating a user query into an executable form.

 It helps to retrieve the results from a database.
 In query processing, it converts the high-level query (SQL)into a
low-level query for the database via Relational algebra in DBMS.
 Query processing is the way Database Management System
(DBMS) parses, validates and optimizes the given query before
generating a low-level code understood by the DB.

 Like any other High-Level Languages (HLL) where code is first

compiled and then executed to perform different actions, Query
Processing in DBMS also comprises of two phases, viz., compile-
time and runtime.

Compile time - Parsing and Translation, Optimization and Query

generation

Runtime - Evaluate and Execute

 The component of DBMS responsible for generating this strategy is

known as query processor. This is a stepwise process. The first step
transforms the query into a standard form. The next step generates a
number of strategies known as access plans (Evaluation plan)to
evaluate the transformed query.
 The DBMS verifies the SQL code and convert them into low-level
languages. It then adopts the best execution path to execute the
query. All of the process together known as query processing in
Database Management System.
Block diagram of Query Processing

A query processor in Database Management System performs this task.

The diagram shows the processing of a query in the database. When a

query is submitted it is received by the compiler that scans the query and
divides it into tokens. After that the tokens are verified by the parser for
their correctness. Then they are transformed into different relational trees
or graphs. The query optimizer then picks the best query plans and
generates different execution plans. The command processor uses this
plan to retrieve the data and return the result.
There are various techniques used in Query Processing. These are as
follows:
 Parsing and Translation
 Query optimization
 Evaluation
 Execution Engine
Parsing and Translation
In query processing in database management system this is the first step to
be performed. In this step the user writes its request in structured query
language (SQL) and the DBMS convert it into machine understandable
low level language. The query is first picked by the query processor which
scans the queries and parses them into individual tokens. After that it
examines the correctness of the query, and then it converts the tokens into
trees, graphs and relational expressions. These are the following checks
performed in parsing phase:
 Syntax check
 Semantic check
 Shared pool check
When a query is found already processed by any session using shared pool
check, the database skips next two steps i.e. optimization and Row source
generation, this is known as soft parsing. If the query is not found in
already processed pool it is known as hard parsing.
Example: Suppose a user wants to know the details of employees who are
working in PROCESS_1. If it says ‘Retrieve Employees details that are in
PROCESS_1’, DBMS can never understand. Hence it provides a language
i.e. SQL to communicate and both user and DBMS can understand. So the
request could be written as:
SELECT EMP_NAME, ADDRESS, DOB FROM EMPLOYEE E,
PROCESS P WHERE E.EMP_ID = P.EMP_ID AND PROCESS_NAME
= ‘PROCESS_1’;
The DBMS reads it and convert it for further process and synthesis it. This
phase is known as parsing and translation. Query processor scans the
query and divides it into tokens. In our example
‘SELECT * FROM’, ‘EMPLOYEE E’, ‘PROCESS P’, ‘WHERE’,
‘E.EMP_ID = P.EMP_ID’, ‘AND’, ‘PROCESS NAME = ‘PROCESS_1’’
are different tokens.
Query Optimization
This step analyses SQL queries and determines effective execution
mechanisms in query processing.
Optimiser uses the statistical data i.e. information about the length of
records, size of the table, the indexes created on the table etc, stored as
part of data dictionary.
The query optimiser produces one or more query plans and the most
efficient is selected and used to execute the query.
The next step is Row source generation. The optimal plan is received by
the Row source generator from the optimiser and the execution plan for
sql query is the output of this step.
A collection of row sources is known as Execution plan and they are
structured in the form of a tree.
A row source processes a set of rows, one at a time in an iterated manner.
It is an iterative control manner that produces a row set.
The above example can be represented in relational structures like
tree/graphs as below:
Evaluation
We got many execution plans through query optimization. Although they
give the same output but differ in terms of space and time consumption.
Evaluation helps us to choose effective and less cost consuming execution
plan to give the final result by accessing the data from the database.

It can also be written as

σSALARY>90 (πEMP_NAME (EMPLOYEE))

In SQL Some of the factors considered to calculate the cost of evaluation

plan by the optimizer are:
 CPU time
 Number of operations
 Number of tuples to be scanned and
 Disk access time
Execution Engine
Execution engine is responsible for producing the output of the given
query. It executes the query execution plan which is chosen from the
previous step i.e. Evaluation and the output is finally displayed to the user.
Summary
The step wise process of translating high level queries into low level
expressions is known as Query Processing. This technique is used at the
physical level (file system), query optimization and actual execution by
using steps like parsing, translation, optimization and evaluation. After
summarising query processing involves two steps:
 Compile time - Parsing and Translation, Optimization and Query
generation
 Runtime - Evaluate and Execute