What's optimizable?

As you learned in the previous section, Derby might be able to use an index on a column to find data more quickly. If Derby can use an index for a statement, that statement is said to be optimizable.

The statements shown in What is an index? allow Derby to use the index because their WHERE clauses provide start and stop conditions. That is, they tell Derby the point at which to begin its scan of the index and where to end the scan.

For example, a statement with a WHERE clause looking for rows for which the orig_airport value is less than BBB means that Derby must begin the scan at the beginning of the index; it can end the scan at BBB. This means that it avoids scanning the index for most of the entries.

An index scan that uses start or stop conditions is called a matching index scan.

SELECT * FROM Flights
WHERE flight_id = 'AA1111' AND
segment_number <> 2

In this example, the first predicate is optimizable; the second predicate is not. Therefore, the statement is optimizable.

• Directly optimizable predicates
  Some predicates provide clear-cut starting and stopping points. A predicate provides start or stop conditions, and is therefore optimizable, when at least one of the following conditions is met.
• Indirectly optimizable predicates
  Some predicates are transformed internally into ones that provide starting and stopping points and are therefore optimizable.
• Joins
  Joins specified by the JOIN keyword are optimizable.