T-SQL is the core language for server-side data access and manipulation in SQL Server. Applying best practices will help you get the most out of T-SQL. You can use the following checklist to make sure that your T-SQL code is efficient and easy to maintain.

Use set-based solutions. Set-based solutions are usually faster, simpler, and shorter than cursor-based solutions. Set-based solutions let SQL Server's optimizer evaluate multiple execution plans and choose an efficient one instead of...