Optimizing a computer database query that fetches N rows

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory coupled to the at least one processor containing a database of records;

a query residing in the memory that includes a Select statement with a Fetch First n Rows Only clause, where n is an integer variable;

a query optimizer residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, wherein the query optimizer performs the steps comprising:

determining that the query is optimizable;

generating for the query an optimized access plan that eliminates records defined by a Where clause prior to ordering the records and then return a first n rows;

determining that the query contains an Order By clause, wherein the Order By clause contains a reasonable predicate that is determined using a previous query history, wherein the reasonable predicate specifies a size that guarantees a sufficiently large enough subset of data is returned by a sort; and

eliminating records prior to the sort by creating an access plan that fetches fewer rows by adding the reasonable predicate to every AND group of the Where clause.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the Fetch First n Rows Only clause is implied and the query is an interactive query.

3. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory coupled to the at least one processor containing a database of records;

a query residing in the memory that includes a Select statement with a Fetch First n Rows Only clause, where n is an integer variable; and

a query optimizer residing in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, wherein the query optimizer performs the steps comprising:

determining the query is optimizable;

generating for the query an optimized access plan that eliminates records defined by a Where clause prior to ordering the records and then returns a first n rows;

determining the query contains a Group By clause, wherein the Group By clause contains a reasonable predicate that is determined using a previous query history, wherein the reasonable predicate specifies a size that guarantees a sufficiently large enough subset of data is returned by a sort; and

eliminating records prior to the sort by creating an access plan that fetches fewer rows by adding the reasonable predicate to every AND group of the Where clause.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the query optimizer further determines that an index exists for each predicate in the Where clause and that the field of the Group By clause exists in each index; and

wherein the access plan that eliminates records prior to grouping by fetching only n rows from each index and then returning the n rows after grouping the n rows from each index.

5. A computer-implemented method for optimizing a database query that includes a Select statement with a Fetch First n Rows Only clause, the method comprises the steps of:

analyzing the query to determine that the query is optimizable;

generating for the query an optimized access plan that eliminates records defined by a Where clause prior to ordering the records and then returns a first n rows, where n is an integer variable;

retrieving data from a computer database using the optimized access plan;

determining the query contains an Order By clause, wherein the Order By clause contains a reasonable predicate that is determined using a previous query history, wherein the reasonable predicate specifies a size that guarantees a sufficiently large enough subset of data is returned by a sort; and

eliminating records prior to the sort by creating an access plan that fetches fewer rows by adding the reasonable predicate to every AND group of the Where clause.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the Fetch First n Rows Only clause is implied and the query is an interactive query.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising the steps of:

determining that an index exists for each predicate in the Where clause and the field of the Order By clause exists in each index; and

returning n rows after sorting a set of records that includes the n rows from each index, wherein the access plan eliminates records prior to the sort by fetching only n rows from each index.

8. A program product comprising:

(A) a query optimizer that executes the following steps:

analyzing a query that includes a Select statement with a Fetch First n Rows Only Clause;

determining that the query is optimizable;

generating for the query an optimized access plan that eliminates records defined by a Where clause prior to ordering the records and then returns a first n rows, where n is an integer variable;

determining that the query contains an Order By clause, wherein the Order By clause provides a reasonable predicate that is determined using a previous query history, wherein the reasonable predicate specifies a size that guarantees a sufficiently large enough subset of data is returned by a sort; and

eliminating records prior to the sort by generating an access plan that fetches fewer rows by adding the reasonable predicate to every AND group of the Where clause; and

(B) computer-recordable storage media bearing the query optimizer.

9. The program product of claim 8 wherein the Fetch First n Rows Only clause is implied and the query is an interactive query.

10. The program product of claim 8 wherein the query optimizer further determines that an index exists for each predicate in the Where clause and that the field of the Order By clause exists in each index; and

wherein the access plan eliminates records prior to a sort by fetching only n rows from each index and then returns n rows after sorting a set of records that includes the n rows from each index.

11. The program product of claim 8 wherein the query optimizer further determines that the query contains a Group By clause, that an index exists for each predicate in the Where clause, and that the field of the Group By clause exists in each index; and

wherein the access plan eliminates records prior to grouping by fetching only n rows from each index and then returning n rows after grouping the n rows from each index.

12. The program product of claim 8 wherein the query optimizer further determines that the query contains a Group By clause and that there is a determinable value of a field of the Group by Clause; and

wherein the access plan eliminates records prior to grouping by adding the field with the determinable value to each predicate of the Where clause.

13. The program product of claim 8 wherein the query optimizer further determines that the query contains a Group By clause and that an index exists for the leftmost column but not all the columns; and

wherein the access plan eliminates records prior to grouping by fetching n rows from the index over the leftmost column and additional rows until a unique value of the index is encountered.