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Optimizers need a rethink


Thoughts on how compiler and database optimizers should evolve in the future, focusing on predictability and guarantees instead of smarts and heroics

In the context of databases, I think a similar approach can be used, perhaps at the level of relational operators, with the added caveat that all other run time information that was utilized as part of the optimization decisions ought to be recorded as well. You verify the fix works for your not-so-minimal code, upgrade the tool version, post your victory in the team’s Slack channel and relax back in your chair feeling smug. EDIT(2024/10/24): Brendan Zabarauskas reminded me that there is a Glasgow Haskell Compiler (GHC) plugin for inspection testing which allows making high-level assertions around allocations, checking usages of a particular function, etc.

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