SQL Server - Cursors

Today I was writing a stored procedure and had to use a lot of cursor to accomplish the task, then I got a doubt does extensive use of cursor affect the performance to the stored procedure?. Then I started to search the internet and the following is the result

What is a cursor?

A cursor is a set of rows together with a pointer that identifies a current row.

Cursor is a database object used by applications to manipulate data in a set on a row-by-row basis, its like recordset in visual basic.

A simple example of a cursor

DECLARE @OrderID INT

DECLARE cursor_getOrderID CURSOR
SET cursor_getOrderID = CURSOR FOR SELECT OrderID FROM Orders

OPEN cursor_getOrderID
FETCH NEXT FROM cursor_getOrderID INTO @OrderID

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
PRINT @OrderID
FETCH NEXT FROM cursor_getOrderID INTO @OrderID
END

CLOSE cursor_getOrderID
DEALLOCATE cursor_getOrderID

Using Cursors affect Performance?

Cursors can affect performance if you use them to keep locks on data.

Some alternatives to using a cursor:

Use WHILE LOOPS
Use temp tables
Use derived tables
Use correlated sub-queries
Use the CASE statement
Perform multiple queries