Which is better? Join or column binding?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
INNER JOIN ON vs WHERE clause

Hello everyone i was wondering which approach is better solution when selecting rows from more than one table. Join or column binding. Though i'm not sure if i'm using the term 'column binding'..

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name1
INNER JOIN table_name2
ON table_name1.column_name=table_name2.column_name

or

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name1 t1, table_name2 t2, table_name t3, .... 
WHERE t1.column_name = t2.column_name
AND t2.column_name = t3.column_name
AND ...

JOIN, the latter is the old, old way of achieving the same. – Jodrell Jan 02 '13 at 11:01 — Jodrell, Jan 02 '13 at 11:01

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

JOIN is the "new" (1992) way of performing set operations with SQL.

There is no functional difference between the two and any query engine worth using should support either and produce identical query plans for both examples.

Early adopters like myself appreciate the readability of the new syntax and its explicit nature. However, you may not feel that at 21+ years old it is quite mature enough for you.

Here's a link to the duplicate older question.

Which is better? Join or column binding?

1 Answers1