Virtual Tables

Hello,

There are many different nomenclatures are work here, but the TRADITIONAL meaning of virtual table is indeed a view. A view is not materialized (though it can be in different RDBMSs) and is generally considered a virtual table. The view does not actually hold information like a table would but does indeed return a result set and only for that session at that particular time.

There are other uses for the virtual table nomenclature such as the inserted and deleted tables as they only exist for that specific session in that specific context and can not be accessed outside of that context.

Table variables, temp tables, etc, are physical tables. They hold data and can be interacted with in multiple ways. Table variables only live for the life of the batch, though.

If this is for an assignment or class, a virtual table is a view. That's the universal definition. If this is something you read somewhere it would depend on context, though I would guess they meant view as not all RDBMSs use the term VIEW.

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Sean Gallardy | Blog | Twitter