What is the Difference Between On and At?

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The difference between "on" and "at" lies in their usage in relation to time and location.

  • On is generally used to refer to days, dates, and less specific locations. For instance, "I have a meeting on Monday," or "He was born on January 15th".
  • At is used to refer to specific times, precise locations, and holidays without the word "day." For example, "Meet me at midnight," or "The concert is at the Kennedy Center".

In summary, "on" is used for more general time and location references, while "at" is used for more specific instances.

Comparative Table: On vs At

The Difference Between "On" and "At" in SQL:

Factor ON AT
Purpose Define the join condition between tables Specify the location or time of an action or event
Used in JOIN clause and CREATE TABLE (WITH clause is a common mistake to define a temporary table) WHERE clause and table aliases
Readability Yes, it makes the query easier to read and prevents incorrect data from being retrieved when using types other than INNER JOIN No, it makes the query harder to understand and may lead to incorrect data being retrieved when using other types of JOINs

Note: The table above compares the usage of "ON" and "AT" in SQL and not in the English language. In SQL, "ON" should be used to define the join condition between tables, while "AT" is not used for this purpose. Instead, "AT" is used in other contexts, such as specifying the location or time of an action or event in the WHERE clause or as a table alias.