The technical puzzle proposed in this discussion is interesting, but it has obviously run it's course. I'm interested about why you would need to know the "last" value inserted into...

Here is a well illustrated primer on SQL joins by Pinal Dave, one of the best SQL Server bloggers.

http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/04/13/sql-server-introduction-to-joins-basic-of-joins/

The specific situation you present here, which is parsing out a...

Yes, you can index a partitioned view. There are some requirements, like all tables must be in the same database and there must be a unique clustered index, which you...

You are always going to have locks of one type or another. I guess the real problem you're wanting to describe is that you're encountering blocks on your DML statements....

Simply get the IDs into a table variable, and then the problem is solved.

I encounter this scenario a lot with stored procedures, typically developed for reporting purposes, which accept a...

The last value inserted into your table was 'Snoopy'. Prove me wrong.

Seriously, without a date/time column, or at least a sequential identifier, there is no deterministic way to know...