[xquery-talk] unordered {} and fn:unordered()

[Bas de Bakker]

Michael Kay wrote:
> There may be
> optimisations one can do in unordered mode, but as far as I'm concerned
> they're not very high up my list - apart from anything else, it's much more
> important to optimize badly written queries than to optimize well-written
> ones.

That is an interesting point. Because I have always thought it more 
important to optimize well written queries than badly written ones! 
Let's assume I have the time to implement one optimization and can 
choose between:

1) An optimization that basically turns the badly written query into the 
well written query.

2) An optimization that evaluates the well written query (only) in a 
faster way.

I have usually chosen option 2, because it allows the user (maybe with 
some effort) to get a faster performing query, which for some users is 
very important. If I choose option 1, there is simply no way at all for 
the user to get the performance he could get with option 2.

Regards,
Bas de Bakker
X-Hive Corporation