RE: sql exec speed. was AS/400 STILL wearing the undeserved "closed system" moniker

>> update pricefile set unit_price = unit_price * 1.05
>>    where product_type = "widgets"

>I've seen this example in so many SQL references as to make me ill.  This
is
>a very rare occurence for every business I've seen.  The people who decide
>what the prices are usually review sales and inventory figures on a case by
>case basis, then decide to raise or lower their prices based on past
>performance and seasonality factors.  In most cases, a list of new prices
is
>agreed upon in advance, and then these prices are applied,

>an item at a time.


It depends what you mean by "item".

When I worked for a retail apparel company I found that most of the business
was style driven.  A style of blouse might encompass five colors and six
sizes.  Prices were maintained at the style/color/size/store level (for us,
around 150 stores).  Price review or markdown of an "item" might impact
thousands of records.  Also temporary and permanent pricing was changed on a
weekly basis.  The example that makes you ill would have happened many times
each day, though the WHERE clause might be applied to style, style/color,
style/store, or style/color/store.

Of course we were running a traditional RPG-based package.  The updates
occurred in processing loops (or matching records routines!)

There's more to the example in any case.  There are pre-edit reports,
approval phases, audit logs, and POS price change transactions which would
all have to be translated to SQL.

-Jim

James Damato
Manager - Technical Administration
Dollar General Corporation
<mailto:jdamato@dollargeneral.com>