[tempguy9999]

> I would appreciate a way to encode execution efficiency parameters in the semantics of the query itself. Specifying which indexes to use,

That's a mistake. You can in MSSQL but you'd likely regret it (this from experience). Using an index can be a mistake; sometimes a table scan can be more efficient. And which, full scan or index, is more efficient is down to the data in the table and the query predicate.

(Edit, so which to do, scan or index, can be different for exactly the same query depending on the test:

  select * 
  from people 
  where surname = ?

can be either depending on whether surname is 'smith' (vey common) or 'hepsibah' (very rare) ).

> I'd appreciate the ability to leave more explicit annotations about expected runtime characteristics, than mere comments offer.

Interesting. Can you elaborate?