Join vs. sub-query

Question

I am an old-school MySQL user and have always preferred JOIN over sub-query. But nowadays everyone uses sub-query, and I hate it; I don\'t know why.

Answer 1

These days, many dbs can optimize subqueries and joins. Thus, you just gotto examine your query using explain and see which one is faster. If there is not much difference in performance, I prefer to use subquery as they are simple and easier to understand.