What is wrong with Cursors?

Question

SQL Server developers consider Cursors a bad practise , except under some circumstances. They believe that Cursors do not use the SQL engine optimally since it is a procedur

Answer 1

The other answers correctly point out the performance issues with cursors, but they don't mention that SQL and relational databases are best at set-based operations and cursors are fundamentally for iterative operations. There are some operations (in the broader sense) that are easier to perform using cursors, but when working with SQL you should always be thinking about working with sets of data. Cursors are often misused because the coder didn't grasp how to perform the task using set-based operations.