SQL Kiwi (5/26/2012)
The difficulty you are having here is exactly why I said the meaning of 'set-based' is a bit woolly, in response to Sean saying that recursive CTEs are not set-based.
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I deliberately did not give a definition of 'set-based';
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Extending the meaning of 'set-based' into the physical domain therefore seems flawed.
Now there's a lesson learned. It can also be applied to what I've been calling "Hidden RBAR". From what we've seen on this thread, "Hidden RBAR" can be considered to be "set based" just as even "Counting rCTEs" can be considered "set based". I've included the term "set based" in quotes because it [font="Arial Black"]IS [/font]a woolly term that appears to have many meanings to many people and I don't want to be in the controversial business of trying to define the term any longer. It's aggravatingly woolly (to coin a phrase) and I'll likely strike the term from my vocabulary except to say that it is woolly.
Shifting gears, you've not answered the question that's much more important to me than any of this SQL stuff. Are we good now?