I learned SQL when I was 13 or 14 (I'm 37 now). Fully agree with the article, but it's a shame some choices behind the syntax make it so clumsy. Some choices (minimal), like allowing "," (commas) after columns in the SELECT clause even on the last column declared would be minor in terms of compilation and a GREAT improvement in ergonomics (and composability). Some more recent SQL idioms do allow for tweaks/improvements on these, but it's far from a standard - still niche. Long live SQL.
I was thinking the same! At first, I thought I was firmly in the “can clearly visualize” camp, but the more I read and hear people describe how they form (or don't) mental images, the less sure I am.
I get it and don’t disagree but isn’t this being too literal? At the limit, isn’t this expecting author to be overly precious with the title? I mean, I could as well ask author to state a precise statistic like “93.76% of business books are entertainment”