Re: Putting an INDEX on a boolean field?

In my database, the "sites" table is large, and the "usersites" table
has only a few sites per userid - so it should be looked in first.  I'm
surprised that I had to juggle my query around (below), rather than
trusting the optimizer to figure this out for me.

Should I start looking to figure out why the optimizer didn't figure out
that it should be doing this sort of thing?  Or should I just keep
juggling with subselects, since it's not that hard to do.

This query results in a sequential scan:
select sites.*, blocks from sites left join quota on
sites.host_u =     quota.host and quota.date = ('2005-06-16 23:55:05-04')
where sites.id     in (select siteid from usersites where userid = 1);

versus this one which does not:
explain analyze select sites.*, blocks from (select * from sites
where     id in (select siteid from usersites where userid = 1)) as sites
left     join quota on sites.host_u = quota.host and quota.date =
('2005-06-16     23:55:05-04');

The tables have been vacuumed/analyzed, etc.

---slow---

explain analyze select sites.*, blocks from sites left join quota on
sites.host_u = quota.host and quota.date = ('2005-06-16 23:55:05-04')
where sites.id in (select siteid from usersites where userid = 1);

---

Hash IN Join  (cost=3183.30..3295.50 rows=13 width=158) (actual
time=4865.895..4942.097 rows=10 loops=1)  Hash Cond: ("outer".id = "inner".siteid)  ->  Merge Left Join
(cost=3173.52..3263.12rows=4493 width=158)
 
(actual time=4856.212..4939.329 rows=4443 loops=1)        Merge Cond: ("outer"."?column24?" = "inner".host)        ->
Sort (cost=2786.62..2797.72 rows=4443 width=154) (actual
 
time=4811.499..4816.164 rows=4443 loops=1)              Sort Key: (sites.host_u)::text              ->  Seq Scan on
sites (cost=0.00..2517.43 rows=4443
 
width=154) (actual time=11.611..4598.849 rows=4443 loops=1)        ->  Sort  (cost=386.91..398.13 rows=4489 width=26)
(actual
time=44.638..46.307 rows=4454 loops=1)              Sort Key: quota.host              ->  Index Scan using
quota_date_idxon quota
 
(cost=0.00..114.60 rows=4489 width=26) (actual time=0.069..10.780
rows=4453 loops=1)                    Index Cond: (date = '2005-06-16
23:55:05-04'::timestamp with time zone)  ->  Hash  (cost=9.75..9.75 rows=12 width=4) (actual time=0.086..0.086
rows=0 loops=1)        ->  Index Scan using usersites_userid_idx on usersites
(cost=0.00..9.75 rows=12 width=4) (actual time=0.047..0.076 rows=10
loops=1)              Index Cond: (userid = 1)Total runtime: 4944.575 ms
(15 rows)

---fast---

explain analyze select sites.*, blocks from (select * from sites where
id in (select siteid from usersites where userid = 1)) as sites left
join quota on sites.host_u = quota.host and quota.date = ('2005-06-16
23:55:05-04');

---

Merge Left Join  (cost=468.77..491.41 rows=13 width=158) (actual
time=46.547..53.669 rows=10 loops=1)  Merge Cond: ("outer"."?column24?" = "inner".host)  ->  Sort  (cost=81.86..81.89
rows=12width=154) (actual
 
time=0.450..0.454 rows=10 loops=1)        Sort Key: (public.sites.host_u)::text        ->  Nested Loop
(cost=9.78..81.65rows=12 width=154) (actual
 
time=0.129..0.392 rows=10 loops=1)              ->  HashAggregate  (cost=9.78..9.78 rows=12 width=4)
(actual time=0.084..0.095 rows=10 loops=1)                    ->  Index Scan using usersites_userid_idx on
usersites  (cost=0.00..9.75 rows=12 width=4) (actual time=0.040..0.067
rows=10 loops=1)                          Index Cond: (userid = 1)              ->  Index Scan using sites_pkey on
sites
(cost=0.00..5.98 rows=1 width=154) (actual time=0.017..0.018 rows=1
loops=10)                    Index Cond: (sites.id = "outer".siteid)  ->  Sort  (cost=386.91..398.13 rows=4489
width=26)(actual
 
time=44.971..46.042 rows=3741 loops=1)        Sort Key: quota.host        ->  Index Scan using quota_date_idx on quota
(cost=0.00..114.60 rows=4489 width=26) (actual time=0.025..10.643
rows=4453 loops=1)              Index Cond: (date = '2005-06-16 23:55:05-04'::timestamp
with time zone)Total runtime: 54.988 ms
(15 rows)