What are the advantages of using stored procedures?

Short answer: Performance: Stored procedures are precompiled, so execution is faster compared to running individual SQL queries each time.

Explain a bit more

Code Reusability: Once defined, stored procedures can be reused in multiple places, reducing redundancy. Security: You can grant users permission to execute a stored procedure without giving them direct access to the underlying tables. Maintainability: Centralizing business logic in stored procedures makes maintenance easier, especially when making changes to the logic. Error Handling: Stored procedures allow you to include error-handling mechanisms like TRY...CATCH in SQL Server or EXCEPTION in PostgreSQL.

Real-world example (ShopNest)

ShopNest’s SQL Server database stores customers, products, and orders. Good indexes and clear foreign keys keep checkout queries fast and safe.

Say this in the interview

1. Define — one clear sentence (the short answer above).
2. Example — relate it to a project like ShopNest or your real work.
3. Trade-off — when you would not use it.