The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL

9 Runs and Sequences

I like to remind my team that ultimately we ship products, not specs and design documents, so we need to remember the end game.—Ron Soukup

Runs, regions, sequences, and series are related data constructs that usually include a minimum of two columns: a key column that is more or less sequential and a value column that contains the information in which we’re interested. The key column of a sequence (or series) is sequential, with no gaps between identifiers. Examples of sequences include time series, invoice numbers, account numbers, and so on. A run’s key column is also sequential, though there may or may not be gaps between identifiers. Examples of runs include those of regular sequences (with gaps, of course) as ...