Received: by 10.224.27.14 with SMTP id g14mr501856qac.1.1346889519872; Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:58:39 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.52.72.16 with SMTP id z16mr28119vdu.15.1346889519852; Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:58:39 -0700 (PDT) Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!news.glorb.com!b19no38822qas.0!news-out.google.com!da15ni51772qab.0!nntp.google.com!b19no38821qas.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.databases.ms-sqlserver Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2012 16:58:39 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=92.40.104.75; posting-account=dELd-gkAAABehNzDMBP4sfQElk2tFztP NNTP-Posting-Host: 92.40.104.75 References: User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: <3dbc1b4a-df8a-44f7-a50c-490c1b8c5ad5@googlegroups.com> Subject: Re: SQL Cursors From: rja.carnegie@gmail.com Injection-Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2012 23:58:39 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Xref: csiph.com comp.databases.ms-sqlserver:1258 On Wednesday, September 5, 2012 11:59:01 PM UTC+1, Bob Barrows wrote: > rja.carnegie@gmail.com wrote: >=20 > > Of course you assumed that the ranking column [num] runs 1, 2, 3, 4, > > 5, ... with no numbers missing or duplicated. >=20 > I could only go by the data offered. Yes. I continue to say that ranking can get funny. > > Otherwise, reviving > > the question of a cursor looks good to me...... >=20 > Why? What would it solve, and how? You could run throu=89gh the table, storing the value from each row in a variable and using it to calculate the new value to set in the next row. Some catches in ranking can be easily avoided, and the programmer=20 who asked the question apparently is cursor-minded. That's usually=20 seen as a lack, but for now, they would be getting a program design that they understand instead of a mysterious magic spell. ;-) Whatever works and the language allows - after that, you're just=20 putting on polish. (Although there are reasons, such as having a=20 program be clear, modifiable, extendable, acceptably fast...)