Great article Jason! An enjoyable and informative read.
One question. In the section where you're describing left-deep/right-deep, is it safe to assume you're saying that the context only applies to a Hash Merge? In the table column, you don't refer to left-deep/right-deep like you do in the first two rows. Clearly though there is some impact caused to all the JOIN types by the different predicates and in each case it seems to be in the same direction.
A very tiny complaint too. You made me search for your first article because you didn't hyperlink it into this one! Shame on you. I found it though and I'm reading it now.
My thought question: Have you ever been told that your query runs too fast?
My advice:
INDEXing a poor-performing query is like putting sugar on cat food. Yeah, it probably tastes better but are you sure you want to eat it?
The path of least resistance can be a slippery slope. Take care that fixing your fixes of fixes doesn't snowball and end up costing you more than fixing the root cause would have in the first place.
Need to UNPIVOT? Why not CROSS APPLY VALUES instead?[/url]
Since random numbers are too important to be left to chance, let's generate some![/url]
Learn to understand recursive CTEs by example.[/url]
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