> The _other_ way it's going to be used is as a stealthy
> alteration to regular behaviour, to solve a particular nasty
> performance problem that happens to result on a given day.
> And every single time I've seen anything like that done, the
> long term effect is always monstrous.
Funny, I very seldom use Informix hints (mostly none, maybe 2 per
project),
but I have yet to see one that backfires on me, even lightly.
I use hints like: don't use that index, use that join order, use that
index
Can you give us an example that had such a monstrous effect in Oracle,
other than that the hint was a mistake in the first place ?
Andreas