Very true indeed. I did have quite few unfortunate years in my career when I had to work with Oracle databases. I remember it used to really frustrate me that the select count(*) from the_table; in Oracle takes forever longer than the similar query against similar table in SQL Server. Of course there was a decent workaround to NEVER use count(*), but opt for a much better performing count('X') instead, but still it was frustrating.

Even though now I work with SQL Server and do undertand that count(*) is basically just as good as count(some_literal) because scan is a scan, I still remember my dark days and opt for some_literal even in T-SQL. I don't go for count('X') because it emits a very strong and offensive Oracle odor, but opt for count(1) just in case. 🙂

Oleg