Sub-queries vs Window Functions vs Common Table Expressions: Which Should You Use in SQL?

SQL is the most used tool for data manipulation but what happens when there are some concepts that seem to work towards the same ultimate outputs. As queries become more complex, developers often encounter different techniques that appear to produce similar results—namely sub-queries, common table expressions (CTEs), and window functions. At first glance, these concepts can seem interchangeable. You might solve the same problem using any of them, which raises a natural question: which one is bet