The primary purpose of your Oracle database is to provide a way to store information for future retrieval. Oracle9i has a number of enhancements that will improve the performance of data retrieval.
Module objectives
In this module, you will learn how to:

1. Describe the Oracle8i optimizer’s functions
2. Describe new optimizer features of Oracle8i
3. Use stored outlines to predetermine optimizer behavior
4. Describe the components and uses of the DBMS_STATS package
5. Use DBMS_STATS to collect and move statistics
6. Describe the tools available for monitoring database operations
7. Use Oracle Enterprise Manager to monitor database activity

The optimizer and query improvements in Oracle8i will help you improve the performance of your user queries--in many cases, transparently.
In the next lesson, you will learn about the basics of Oracle's query optimizer.