When should I use an INNER -LOOP- JOIN instead of an INNER JOIN

Question

Today I learned about a thing in SQL Server called INNER LOOP JOIN.

What does this mean? (Google is not helping .. or should I say ... the blog posts about it are a

Answer 1

What you are referring to is a join hint. Like other hints, join hints should only be specified as a last resort as most of the time SQL server would pick correct algorithm. A good article to explain some of it is this.