SQL is the leading language for developing and querying databases, but it has a few quirks. In my last article, I shared 7 SQL mistakes to avoid. Now, let's take a look at 9 best practices for writing faster SQL queries.
9 best practices for faster SQL queries
- Retrieve only the columns you need
- Use CASE instead of UPDATE for conditional column updates
- Keep large-table queries to a minimum
- Pre-stage your data
- Perform deletes and updates in batches
- Use temp tables to improve cursor performance
- Use table-valued functions over scalar functions
- Use partitioning to avoid large data moves
- Use stored procedures for performance, use ORMs for convenience
Retrieve only the columns you need
A common SQL habit is to use SELECT * on a query, because it's tedious to list all the columns you need. Plus, sometimes those columns may change over time, so why not just do things the easy way?
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