Dangerous select statements

Anon

While checking out the ADOB classes (db abstraction layers), I read where the writer said that the "select * " statement is dangerous. Well, I'd like to know why. Does anyone know? I don't much use it anyways, just curious.

Late on,
Bid Din K.R.

[deleted]

SELECT * FROM table;

can be dangerous if you have large tables, with lots of rows.
For example, imagine you have no brain and you stored 5 million images of 2Megabyte each into your table.
If you did a SELECT * FROM table;
that would give a resultset that contains 10 terabytes of data. I doubt your database server nor your webserver would appreciate that :-)
This is an extreme example ofcourse, but if you have large records, the threat reamains.

This does not mean that SELECT * is a no-no, but you should allways think about exactly how much data you will be getting back.

Anon

Hey Vince,

That is what I suspected. I couldn't see there being any other reason.

Anyways, I don't use it anymore anyways.

Thanx,
BiglDin K.R.

Anon

So out of curiosity K.R.... what do you use instead of select statements?

Richard

Anon

You know, I thought that was a rather odd question until I looked at what I wrote. Where did I come up with that redundant "anyways" business? Sheesh!

So, color me stupid, I still use select statements. I no longer select everyting.

See ya later,
Big Din K.R.