Patricia Selinger and the Birth of Query Optimization

In this episode we attempt to explain query optimization and where it came from.  In particular we discuss Patricia Selinger's 1979 SIGMOD paper Access Path Selection in a Relational Database Management System. 

• Access Path Selection paper (PDF)
• A Conversation with Pat Selinger — ACM Queue (2006)
• Database Dialogue with Pat Selinger — CACM (2008)
• Pat Selinger Speaks Out — SIGMOD Interview (PDF)
• Patricia Selinger — IBM History
• System R: Database Research Retrospective — TODS 1981
• Graefe, G. (1995). The Cascades Framework for Query Optimization 
• Leis et al. (2015). How Good Are Query Optimizers, Really? PVLDB Vol. 9 — introduces the Join Order Benchmark (JOB) and empirically audits modern optimizers.

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