performance - single join select vs. multiple simple selects

Question

What is better as far as performance goes?

Answer 1

If you are using SQL Server (I am not sure if this is available with other RDBMSs) I would suggest that you bundle an execution plan with you query results. This will give you the ability to see exactly how your query(s) are being executed and what is causing any bottlenecks.

Until you know what SQL Server is actually doing I wouldn't hazard a guess about which query is better.