Adding some columns to SQL tables with existing data rows. There are also views created from these tables. The views are used in some report/query software so NULL values are not good. Interested in learning about the best way to set a default value. These are the ways that I can think of
1) ALTER TABLE using the DEFAULT to add the column and set the default value
++ Adds a constraint which is not terrible. Constraints are just not used much in this shop.
2) ALTER TABLE to add the column then do an UPDATE statement to update the values
++ might be an issue for tables with millions of rows
3) ALTER TABLE to add the column then use ISNULL in the CREATE VIEW