Inside Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005

Chapter 3. Cursors

In this chapter:

Using Cursors

Cursor Overhead

Dealing with Each Row Individually

Order-Based Access

Conclusion

You probably won’t find many database professionals arguing about the necessity for SELECT statements, but many argue about whether cursors are necessary. Arguments also arise about the use of temporary tables; dynamic code; and integrated XML, XQuery, and CLR. There must be a reason why database professionals are in complete agreement about some aspects of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 but have conflicting opinions about other aspects (call the constructs under conflicting opinions arguable constructs). Let me offer my two cents’ worth on the subject.

These arguable constructs have a high potential for misuse because database ...