AI engineering glossary · SQL databases
What is execution plan?
Execution plan (also called Query plan): The step-by-step strategy the database chooses to run a query: which tables are read in what order, which indexes and join methods are used, and estimated or actual costs and row counts. Reading it is the main tuning skill.
Execution plan: an example
A plan showing a sequential scan on a 10 million row table suggests a missing index.
Related terms
More SQL databases terms
- EXISTS
- EXPLAIN
- First normal form
- Foreign key
- FULL OUTER JOIN
- Full table scan
- Functional dependency
- Graph database
Where you learn it
Execution plan is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.