Well, I understand the fuzz, although I didn't mean to create it.

When I wrote this article I had in mind that not all T-SQL beginner are completely unaware of database design.

I have seen lots of bad code written by developers who simply were more familiar to other RDBMS's and took for granted that the truth for other RDBMS's is valid for SQL SERVER too.

Besides, I didn't mean novice database developers should not be scared about cursors. I tried to compare the performance of the (simple) alternatives I showed just to let them feel where they would be stepping on when using cursors.

But I also believe cursors are not so bad they shouldn't exist.

I've used cursors myself several times.

My point in this article is "Whenever you suspect your code is not running as expected, no matter it uses cursors or not, you should check your code's execution plan. This is the ultimate information you have to assess your code's performance."