Minor Description
BinaryLogicalOperatorNode.generateExpression() creates a BooleanDataValue for the result of the expression, this is to avoid object generation during runtime.
The code is logically like (ignoring the short circuit logic) for the SQL <left> AND <right>
BooleanDataValue e34; // instance field for the result
e34 = <left>.and( <right>, e34);
The and method on BooleanDataValue will create a new BooleanDataValue if the passed in e34 is null, otherwise re-use it.
On the first execution e34 will be null, and thus the 'and' method will create an object and it will get stored in e34.
[ Ignore for the moment the inefficiency of setting e34 everytime to the same value on every subsequent execution. ]
[ This approach is standard practice in the generated code and elsewhere and ensures that object allocation within a Derby ]
[ statement execution is a fixed cost, and not linear with the number of rows scanned. ]
This issue is about what happens when multiple boolean expressions get combined, as in the query in DERBY-732. For each AND/OR
a new BooleanDataValue field is created to hold the result of the intrermediate step, e.g. for the SQL ( <A> AND <B> ) AND <C>
BooleanDataValue e34; // instance field for the result of A and B
BooleanDataValue e35; // instance field for the final result
e34 = <A>.and( <B>, e34);
e35 = <e34>.and(<C>, e35);
But since this is a single expression, of the same type up and down the tree, why not have a single BooleanDataValue for the result
BooleanDataValue e36; // instance field for the final result
e36 = <A>.and( <B>, e36);
e36 = <e36>.and(<C>, e36);
or
e36 = new BooleanDataValue(); // through data value factory
<A>.and( <B>, e36);
<e36>.and(<C>, e36);
The query for DERBY-732 has over 500 BooleanDataValue fields, which I think are all intermediate result holders.
Would need to document that the and and or methods return the result passed in if it is not null, which I think is the case for
all DataValueDescriptor methods that take a result parameter.
[ [