SQLBits 2020
Fast Focus: Scalar User-defined Functions in SQL Server 2019
SQL Server 2019 introduces FROID, a framework to inline user-defined functions, promising much better performance. What problem does it solve? And how does it work?
Scalar user-defined functions (UDFs) can be great for development, since they allow easy code reuse and encapsulation. But they tend to have disastrous effects on performance in SQL Server. This forced developers into an impossible choice: use UDFs and accept worse performance (and the wrath of your DBA), or copy and paste your code all over the place and risk future maintenance.
But that will change in SQL Server 2019! Carefully hidden as "just one of the features" under the Intelligent Query Processing umbrella is "FROID" - a framework that enables SQL Server to use UDFs without suffering the drawbacks!
In this session, we will look at why UDFs traditionally are such a performance bottleneck. We will then look at what exactly changes with FROID, and how all of this works under the covers.
Is this really the panacea that MS marketing wants you to believe? Can we now finally have our cake and eat it too? Or are there limitations and problems we should be aware of?
Come to this session to find the answer to all those questions!