How would you explain Query Execution Plans to a junior engineer?

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→What trade-offs come with Query Execution Plans?Open
→How would you explain Query Execution Plans to a junior engineer?Open
→Design a small subsystem that relies on Query Execution PlansOpen

Parent context — Query Execution Plans

Baseline: Optimizer chooses join order, access paths (seek vs scan), and algorithms (hash vs merge join). EXPLAIN/EXPLAIN ANALYZE shows estimated vs actual rows — key for tuning.

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