Sadly, receiving the response through comments I cannot see the original question. From my unreliable memory I remember parts of the question as follows: 🙂

The table had a column width that was being increased in size.

The original column definition was VARCHAR(?) NOT NULL.

The Update statements that were there were

1) Alter Table x Alter Column VARCHAR(Bigger Amount) NULL

2) Alter Table x Alter Column VARCHAR(Bigger Amount) NULL

From memory the options were

1) Statement 1 was fastest and therefore the best

2) Statement 2 was fastest and therefore the best.

3)...

4)...

5) Either was a good choice.

The author expected the correct answer to be answer 1.

In my opinion this is not a good choice :w00t:. The result of running the answer that is supposed to be correct is the dropping of the NOT NULL constraint in order to alter the table quickly.

None of the answers were really good...so I picked what I thought was the best answer from the list available...option 5. I chose this answer because the speed of execution was not established as the only/sole requirement of the modification. Option 5 simply stated that either one would work and could be a good choice.

If the table was originally defined as not allowing nulls, how can an alter allowing nulls be a good choice?

I humbly disagree.

Cheers,

Ben

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my response.