SQL Antipatterns

Solution: In No Particular Order…

The sort-by-random technique is an example of a query that’s bound to perform a table scan and an expensive manual sort. When you design solutions in SQL, you should be on the lookout for inefficient queries like this. Instead of searching fruitlessly for a way to optimize an unoptimizable query, rethink your approach. You can use the alternative techniques shown in the following sections to query a random row from a query result set. In different circumstances, each of these solutions can produce the same result with greater efficiency.

Choose a Random Key Value Between 1 and MAX

One technique that avoids sorting the table is to choose a random value between 1 and the greatest primary key value.

Random/soln/rand-1-to-max.sql ...