sql - Select * from table OR select id,field1, field2, field3 from table - best practice?

Question

Could someone chime in as to whats a better practice? for select queries should I return all or the IDs that I require?

Efficiency? Scalability? etc.

thanks

Env: SQL Server 2008, VS2008 (VB)

Answer 1

Always explicitly enumerate your columns. Never have select * in any production code.

Even situations where it may seemingly make sense can have unintended consequences. For example, you may think to do select * when you have a view that is supposed to mirror the layout of a table, but strange things can happen if you modify the underlying table without regenerating the view.

Stay away from select * unless you're typing the query and executing it then and there.