Re: Rename max_parallel_degree?

On Sun, Apr 24, 2016 at 8:23 PM, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:

> Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> > On Sat, Apr 23, 2016 at 11:58 PM, Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us>
> wrote:
> >> Why is the parallelism variable called "max_parallel_degree"? Is that a
> >> descriptive name? What does "degree" mean? Why is it not called
> >> "max_parallel_workers"?
>
> > Because "degree of parallelism" is standard terminology, I guess.
>
> FWIW, I agree with Bruce that using "degree" here is a poor choice.
> It's an unnecessary dependence on technical terminology that many people
> will not be familiar with.
>

FWIW, SQL Server calls it "degree of parallelism" as well (
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188611(v=sql.105).aspx) And
their configuration option is "max degree of parallelism":
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181007(v=sql.105).aspx.

Oracle also call it "degree of parallelism" (
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E18283_01/server.112/e17110/initparams176.htm)

So it's certainly not a made-up term. And I'd go as far as to say that most
people coming from other databases would be familiar with it. It may not be
a standard, but clearly it's very close to being that.

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Magnus Hagander
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