Joining tables based on the maximum value

Question

Here\'s a simplified example of what I\'m talking about:

Table: students      exam_results
_____________       ____________________________________
| id | name |         


        

Answer 1

Using MS SQL Server:

SELECT name, score, date FROM exam_results
JOIN students ON student_id = students.id
JOIN (SELECT DISTINCT student_id FROM exam_results) T1
ON exam_results.student_id = T1.student_id
WHERE exam_results.id = (
    SELECT TOP(1) id FROM exam_results T2
    WHERE exam_results.student_id = T2.student_id
    ORDER BY score DESC, date ASC)

If there is a tied score, the oldest date is returned (change date ASC to date DESC to return the most recent instead).

Output:

Jim 93  2009-01-03 00:00:00.000
Joe 27  2009-04-09 00:00:00.000
Jay 100 2009-01-06 00:00:00.000

Test bed:

CREATE TABLE students(id int , name nvarchar(20) );

CREATE TABLE exam_results(id int , student_id int , score int, date datetime);

INSERT INTO students
VALUES
(1,'Jim'),(2,'Joe'),(3,'Jay')

INSERT INTO exam_results VALUES
(1, 1, 73, '8/1/09'), 
(2, 1, 93, '9/2/09'),
(3, 1, 93, '1/3/09'),
(4, 2, 27, '4/9/09'),
(5, 2, 17, '8/9/09'),
(6, 3, 100, '1/6/09')

SELECT name, score, date FROM exam_results
JOIN students ON student_id = students.id
JOIN (SELECT DISTINCT student_id FROM exam_results) T1
ON exam_results.student_id = T1.student_id
WHERE exam_results.id = (
    SELECT TOP(1) id FROM exam_results T2
    WHERE exam_results.student_id = T2.student_id
    ORDER BY score DESC, date ASC)

On MySQL, I think you can change the TOP(1) to a LIMIT 1 at the end of the statement. I have not tested this though.