In this part, you will implement a piece of a relational query optimizer: Plan space search.
You will now search the plan space of some cost estimates. For our database, this is similar to System R: the set of all left-deep trees, avoiding cartesian products where possible. Unlike System R, we do not consider interesting orders, and further, we completely disallow cartesian products in all queries. To search the plan space, we will utilize the dynamic programming algorithm used in the Selinger optimizer.
Before you begin, you should have a good idea of how the QueryPlan
class is
used (see the Proj3 README) and how query operators fit together.
For example, to implement a simple query with a single selection predicate:
/**
* SELECT * FROM myTableName WHERE stringAttr = 'CS 186'
*/
QueryOperator source = SequentialScanOperator(transaction, myTableName);
QueryOperator select = SelectOperator(source, 'stringAttr', PredicateOperator.EQUALS, "CS 186");
int estimatedIOCost = select.estimateIOCost(); // estimate I/O cost
Iterator<Record> iter = select.iterator(); // iterator over the results
A tree of QueryOperator
objects is formed when we have multiple tables joined
together. The current implementation of QueryPlan#execute
, which is called by
the user to run the query, is to join all tables in the order given by the user:
if the user says SELECT * FROM t1 JOIN t2 ON .. JOIN t3 ON ..
, then it scans
t1
, then joins t2
, then joins t3
. This will perform poorly in many cases,
so your task is to implement the dynamic programming algorithm to join the
tables together in a better order.
You will have to implement the QueryPlan#execute
method. To do so, you will
also have to implement two helper methods: QueryPlan#minCostSingleAccess
(pass
1 of the dynamic programming algorithm) and QueryPlan#minCostJoins
(pass
i > 1).
Recall that the first part of the search algorithm involves finding the lowest estimated cost plans for accessing each table individually (pass i involves finding the best plans for sets of i tables, so pass 1 involves finding the best plans for sets of 1 table).
This functionality should be implemented in the QueryPlan#minCostSingleAccess
helper method, which takes a table and returns the optimal QueryOperator
for
scanning the table.
In our database, we only consider two types of table scans: a sequential, full
table scan (SequentialScanOperator
) and an index scan (IndexScanOperator
),
which requires an index and filtering predicate on a column.
You should first calculate the estimated I/O cost of a sequential scan, since this is always possible (it's the default option: we only move away from it in favor of index scans if the index scan is both possible and more efficient).
Then, if there are any indices on any column of the table that we have a selection predicate on, you should calculate the estimated I/O cost of doing an index scan on that column. If any of these are more efficient than the sequential scan, take the best one.
Finally, as part of a heuristic-based optimization covered in class, you should
push down any selection predicates that involve solely the table (see
QueryPlan#addEligibleSelections
).
This should leave you with a query operator beginning with a sequential or index
scan operator, followed by zero or more SelectOperator
s.
After you have implemented QueryPlan#minCostSingleAccess
, you should be
passing all of the tests in TestSingleAccess
. These tests do not involve any
joins.
Recall that for i > 1, pass i of the dynamic programming algorithm takes in optimal plans for joining together all possible sets of i - 1 tables (except those involving cartesian products), and returns optimal plans for joining together all possible sets of i tables (again excluding those with cartesian products).
We represent the state between two passes as a mapping from sets of strings
(table names) to the corresponding optimal QueryOperator
. You will need to
implement the logic for pass i (i > 1) of the search algorithm in the
QueryPlan#minCostJoins
helper method.
This method should, given a mapping from sets of i - 1 tables to the optimal plan for joining together those i - 1 tables, return a mapping from sets of i tables to the optimal left-deep plan for joining all sets of i tables (except those with cartesian products).
You should use the list of explicit join conditions added when the user calls
the QueryPlan#join
method to identify potential joins.
There are no public test cases for this method, so you will need to implement
execute
(the next section) before any more tests pass.
Note: you should not add any selection predicates in this method. This is because in our database, we only allow two column predicates in the join condition, and a conjunction of single column predicates otherwise, so the only unprocessed selection predicates in pass i > 1 are the join conditions. This is not generally the case! SQL queries can contain selection predicates that can not be processed until multiple tables have been joined together, for example:
SELECT * FROM t1, t2, t3, t4 WHERE (t1.a = t2.b OR t2.b = t2.c)
where the single predicate cannot be evaluated until after t1
, t2
, and
t3
have been joined together. Therefore, a database that supports all of SQL
would have to push down predicates after each pass of the search algorithm.
Your final task is to write the outermost driver method of the optimizer,
QueryPlan#execute
, which should utilize the two helper methods you have implemented
to find the best query plan.
You will need to add the remaining group by and projection operators that are
a part of the query, but have not yet been added to the query plan (see the
private helper methods implemented for you in the QueryPlan
class).
Note: The tables in QueryPlan
are defined as 1 startTableName
and some joinTableNames
.
The startTableName
doesn't have to be the table to start joining with, it's just to line up the
indices in joinTableNames
, joinLeftColumnNames
, and joinRightColumnNames
, because joining n tables
requires n-1 joins. So be sure to include the startTableName
and all of the joinTableNames
in your QueryPlan#execute
.
After this, you should pass all the tests we have provided to you in database.query.*
.
Note that you may not modify the signature of any methods or classes that we
provide to you, but you're free to add helper methods. Also, you should only modify query/QueryPlan.java
in this part.