SQL Design Patterns

Advanced SQL programming

idioms
Genesis
C++ world
Advanced C++ Programming Styles and Idioms, by
James O. Coplien
Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-
Oriented Software by Erich Gamma et al
SQL
SQL for Smarties by Joe Celko
SQL Cookbook by Anthony Molinaro
The Art of SQL
by Stephane Faroult, Peter Robson
What is a SQL Pattern?
A common design vocabulary
A documentation and learning aid
An adjunct to existing design methods
A target for refactoring
Large range of granularity -- from very
general design principles to language-
specific idioms
List of Patterns
Counting
Conditional summation
Integer generator
String/Collection decomposition
List Aggregate
Enumerating pairs
Enumerating sets
Interval coalesce
Discrete interval sampling
User-defined aggregate
Pivot
Symmetric difference
Histogram
Skyline query
Relational division
Outer union
Complex constraint
Nested intervals
Transitive closure
Hierarchical total
Symmetric Difference

A=B ?

Isn’t it Equality operator ?

Venn diagram

B\A
A∩B
A\B

(A \ B) ∪ (B \ A)
(A ∪ B) \ (A ∩ B)
SQL Query
(
select * from A
minus
select * from B
) union all (
select * from B
minus
select * from A
)
Test
create table A as
select obj# id, name from
sys.obj$
where rownum < 100000;
create table B as
select obj# id, name from
sys.obj$
where rownum < 100010;
Execution Statistics
Anti Join Transformation
convert_set_to_join = true:
select * from A
where (col1,col2,…) not in (select
col1,col2,… from B)
union all
select * from B
where (col1,col2,…) not in (select
col1,col2,… from A)
Execution Statistics
Optimization continued…
CREATE INDEX A_id_name ON A(id, name);
CREATE INDEX B_id_name ON B(id, name);
_hash_join_enabled = false
_optimizer_sortmerge_join_enabled =
false
or
/*+ use_nl(@"SEL$74086987" A)
    use_nl(@"SET$D8486D66" B)*/
Symmetric Difference via
Aggregation
select * from (
  select id, name,
    sum(case when src=1 then 1 else 0
end) cnt1,
    sum(case when src=2 then 1 else 0
end) cnt2
  from (
    select id, name, 1 src from A
    union all
    select id, name, 2 src from B
  ) group by id, name
)where cnt1 <> cnt2
Execution Statistics
Equality checking via Aggregation
1. Is there any difference? (Boolean).
2. What are the rows that one table contains,
and the other doesn't?

|| orahash 512259
+
|| orahash 334382
+
|| orahash 592731
|| orahash +267629
=
1523431
 Relational Division
ApplicantSkills
 Name   Language
JobApplicants  
JobRequirements  Steve   SQL 
 Name
 Language   Pete   Java 
  Steve
 Pete 
x  SQL  =  Kate   SQL 
 Java   Steve   Java 
 Kate 
 Pete   SQL 
 Kate   Java 
Dividend, Divisor and Quotient

ApplicantSkills

 Name  Language
  SQL  JobRequirements
 Steve 
 Language   Name 
 Pete   Java  /  SQL  = ?
 Kate 
 Kate   SQL 
 Java 
 Kate   Java 

Remainder
Is it a common Pattern?
Not a basic operator in RA or SQL
Informally:
“Find job applicants who meet all job
requirements”
compare with:
“Find job applicants who meet at least one
job requirement”
Set Union Query
Given a set of sets, Sets

e.g {{1,3,5},{3,4,5},{5,6}}  ID  ELEMENT

 1    1 
Find their union:  1   3 
 1   5 
SELECT DISTINCT element  2   3 
FROM Sets  2   4 
 2   5 
 3   5 
 3   6 
Set Intersection
Given a set of sets, Sets

e.g {{1,3,5},{3,4,5},{5,6}}  ID  ELEMENT

 1    1 
Find their intersection?  1   3 
 1   5 
 2   3 
 2   4 
 2   5 
 3   5 
 3   6 
It’s Relational Division Query!
“Find Elements which belong to all sets”
compare with:
“Find Elements who belong to at least one
set”
 ID  ELEMENT 
 ID 
 1   1 
 1   3   ELEMENT 
 1 
 1 
 2 
 5 
 3 
/ =
 2   5 
 2   4 
 2   5   3 
 3   5 
 3   6 
Implementation (1)
πName(ApplicantSkills) x JobRequirements
 Name  Language
 Steve    SQL 

 Pete   Java 
 Kate   SQL 
 Steve   Java 
 Pete   SQL 
 Kate   Java 
Implementation (2)
Applicants who are not qualified:
πName (

πName(ApplicantSkills) x JobRequirements

- ApplicantSkills

)
Implementation (3)
Final Query:

πName (ApplicantSkills) -
πName ( ApplicantSkills -
πName(ApplicantSkills) x JobRequirements
)
Implementation in SQL (1)
select distinct Name from ApplicantSkills
minus
select Name from (
select Name, Language from (
select Name from ApplicantSkills
), (
select Language from JobRequirements
)
minus
select Name, Language from ApplicantSkills
)
Implementation in SQL (2)
select distinct Name from ApplicantSkills i
where not exists (
select * from JobRequirements ii
where not exists (
select * from ApplicantSkills iii
where iii.Language = ii.Language
and iii.Name = i.Name
)
)
Implementation in SQL (3)
“Name the applicants such that for all job
requirements there exists a corresponding entry
in the applicant skills” 
“Name the applicants such that there is no job
requirement such that there doesn’t exists a
corresponding entry in the applicant skills” 
“Name the applicants for which the set of all job
skills is a subset of their skills”
Implementation in SQL (4)
select distinct Name from ApplicantSkills i
where
(select Language from JobRequirements ii
where ii.Name = i.Name)
in
(select Language from ApplicantSkills)
Implementation in SQL (5)
A⊆B  A\B=∅
select distinct Name from ApplicantSkills i
where not exists (
select Language from ApplicantSkills
minus
select Language from JobRequirements ii
where ii.Name = i.Name
)
Implementation in SQL (6)
select Name from ApplicantSkills s,
JobRequirements r
where s.Language = r.Language
group by Name
having count(*) = (select count(*) from
JobRequirements)
Book