Materialized View
A materialized view is a database object that stores the precomputed result of a query physically, rather than recomputing it every time. Reading from it is fast because the work was done in advance.
When precomputing pays off
A normal view is just a saved query that runs fresh each time. A materialized view actually stores the result. When you query it, you read the stored answer instead of recomputing it, which is much faster for expensive aggregations that get read often.
The tradeoff is freshness and storage. The stored result can go stale as underlying data changes, so it has to be refreshed, on a schedule or incrementally. And it takes space. Materialized views make the most sense for expensive queries whose results are read far more often than the underlying data changes.
Common uses include precomputed rollups, dashboards, and reporting summaries.
Related terms
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