Clustered index mutation on SQL Server

Question

How does SQL Server perform a mutation on a clustered index?

Is it done in place, and hence I need to perform an delete/insert on an applications level, or is it doing a delete/insert under the hood and I have nothing to worry about? I read that this is the latter, can anyone confirm?

Link: http://sqlinthewild.co.za/index.php/2011/06/21/are-all-updates-split-into-delete-insert/

Answer 1

The link you provided does a pretty good job at explaining the underlying mechanics. That said, you will almost never need to worry about this at any level and will never need to worry about it at an application level. Just issue your UPDATE statement and trust that the net result will be an updated row.