Jawz-X wrote:
But why then are cursors to be considered a last resort?
Because they are increadibly slow. I once saw a question on this forum complaining that the code was taking too long (it was using cursors). I suggested a better query to use without cursors and the operation took around one second to complete. Some things cannot be solved without cursors which is why they exist. But oftentimes the code can be re-written without cursors.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." --Charles Babbage (1791-1871) My: Website | Blog