Are Stored Procedures Still Significantly More Efficient Than Inline SQL in Modern RDBMSs?

Are Stored Procedures More Efficient Than Inline Statements on Modern RDBMSs?

Contemporary wisdom suggests that stored procedures universally offer performance advantages over inline SQL statements. However, it is crucial to examine whether this assumption holds true in the context of modern relational database management systems (RDBMSs).

Historical Advantages of Stored Procedures

Historically, the performance benefits attributed to stored procedures stemmed from the following factors:

• Pre-parsed SQL: Similar to the benefits of compiled code, pre-parsing SQL eliminates the overhead of parsing each SQL statement at runtime.
• Pre-generated Query Execution Plan: Complex SQL statements can involve numerous permutations of join operations, potentially leading to prolonged optimization. Stored procedures alleviate this overhead by storing query execution plans in memory.
• Reduced Network Latency: Replacing lengthy SQL statements with concise stored procedure calls minimizes network traffic, especially when executing repetitive operations.
• Potential Cache Benefits: Data manipulation within the DBMS can benefit from memory cache optimizations, reducing data transfer overheads.

Modern Considerations

In modern RDBMSs, these advantages have been tempered by advancements in optimization techniques and network infrastructure:

• Pre-parsed SQL: Modern CPUs significantly mitigate the overhead of SQL parsing, rendering this advantage minimal.
• Pre-generated Query Execution Plan: Many RDBMSs now cache query plans for individual SQL statements, reducing the performance gap between stored procedures and ad hoc SQL. Optimizer path plans also empower users to influence execution strategies manually.
• Reduced Network Latency: Gigabit and higher network speeds minimize the impact of data transfer overheads.
• Cache Benefits: Unless the client application has shared memory access to DBMS data, server-side cache optimizations still favor stored procedures.

Parameterized or Prepared SQL

Parameterized SQL offers a compromise between stored procedures and ad hoc SQL by allowing SQL statements with parameters to be cached and reused, gaining some of the performance benefits without the procedural code overhead.

Ad Hoc SQL

Modern RDBMSs can "abstract" ad hoc SQL into parameterized versions, effectively eliminating significant performance differences.

Conclusion

In general, for fairly vanilla SQL, the performance difference between ad hoc and stored procedure statements has diminished significantly in modern RDBMSs. While stored procedures may still provide advantages in specific edge cases, premature optimization based solely on performance concerns should be avoided. By considering the trends and capabilities of contemporary databases, developers can make informed decisions about the appropriate usage of stored procedures and inline statements to achieve optimal results.

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