Question

On my current project I’m using SQL CE. Since it doesn’t have support for stored procedures I have to write sql queries inside repository.

Option 1:

StringBuilder query = new StringBuilder();
query.Append("SELECT");
query.Append("    c.CUSTOMER_ID,");
query.Append("    COALESCE (c.FIRST_NAME, '') + ' ' + COALESCE (c.LAST_NAME, '') AS FULL_NAME");
query.Append("    ct.NAME as CUSTOMER_TYPE");
query.Append("FROM ");
query.Append("    CT_CUSTOMER_TYPE AS ct INNER JOIN CUSTOMER AS c ON ct.CUSTOMER_TYPE_ID = c.CUSTOMER_TYPE_ID");

Option 2:

string query = "SELECT c.CUSTOMER_ID, COALESCE (c.FIRST_NAME, '') + ' ' + COALESCE (c.LAST_NAME, '') AS FULL_NAME, ct.NAME as CUSTOMER_TYPE FROM CT_CUSTOMER_TYPE AS ct INNER JOIN CUSTOMER AS c ON ct.CUSTOMER_TYPE_ID = c.CUSTOMER_TYPE_ID";

Option 1 seems like a much more readable, especially when I have 10+ tables in join, but option 2 is faster.
Which option should I accept and what’s the best practice in this case?

Answer 1

Option 2 may be a few nanoseconds faster, but when you add the time to actually execute in the database (several milliseconds) a few extra nanaoseconds barely registers as noise.

In any case, there is another option that’s the best of both worlds: @-strings:

string query = @"
    SELECT
        c.CUSTOMER_ID,
        COALESCE (c.FIRST_NAME, ''_ + ' ' + COALESCE (c.LAST_NAME, '') AS FULL_NAME
        ct.NAME as CUSTOMER_TYPE
    FROM
        CT_CUSTOMER_TYPE AS ct INNER JOIN CUSTOMER AS c
            ON ct.CUSTOMER_TYPE_ID = c.CUSTOMER_TYPE_ID
    ";