title: Does cross apply use row by row processing?
body: <p>I've always thought of cross applies as a different way of doing an inner join. I've been having to re-write a bunch of code because my SR. is convinced that cross applies aren't ansi supported and also use row by row processing. </p>
  
  <p>I get that an inner join is more intuitive. I also understand that I should not use a cross apply if the same thing can be accomplished with an inner join. It's just that some times I try cross applies before inner joins. I've looked at the IO statistics for cases where I can switch cross apply to inner join and they're are no differences. </p>
  
  <p>My Questions then: <br>
  1. Does cross apply use row by row processing? 
  2. Should cross applies be regarded and treated like cursor's? (I.e performance hogs) <br>
  3. Is cross apply ansi supported? <br>
  4. What are the best real life examples of when to use and avoid cross applies? </p>