Query optimization strategies for browsing sessions

This paper describes techniques and experimental results to obtain response time improvement for a browsing session, i.e. a sequence of interrelated queries to locate a subset of interest. The optimization technique exploits symbolic analysis of the query interdependencies and retention of (partial) query answers. A prototype browsing session optimizer (BSO) has been constructed that runs as a front-end to the Ingres relational system. Based on the experiments reported, we propose to extend (existing) DBMSs with a mechanism to keep and reuse small answers by default. Such investments quickly pay off in sessions with interrelated queries