Re: Possibly slow query

Peter Darley wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> 	I'm using PostgreSQL 7.4.1 on Linux, and I'm trying to figure out weather a
> query I have is going to be slow when I have more information in my tables.
> both tables involved will likely have ~500K rows within a year or so.
> 
> 	Specifically I can't tell if I'm causing myself future problems with the
> subquery, and should maybe re-write the query to use a join.  The reason I
> went with the subquery is that I don't know weather a row in Assignments
> will have a corresponding row in Assignment_Settings
> 
> 	The query is:
> SELECT User_ID
> FROM Assignments A
> WHERE A.User_ID IS NOT NULL
> 	AND (SELECT Value FROM Assignment_Settings WHERE Setting='Status' AND
> Assignment_ID=A.Assignment_ID) IS NULL
> GROUP BY User_ID;

You could always use a LEFT JOIN instead, like you say. I'd personally 
be tempted to select distinct user_id's then join, but it depends on how 
many of each.

You're not going to know for sure whether you'll have problems without 
testing. Generate 500k rows of plausible looking test-data and give it a 
try.

--
   Richard Huxton
   Archonet Ltd