[dataminer]

Sometimes I wonder, why does SQL syntax has select at the beginning. The Query execution order is FROM -> WHERE -> GROUP BY -> HAVING -> SELECT -> DISTINCT -> ORDER BY -> LIMIT.

Isn't it more intuitive to write?

  from stringList where s like '%Tutorials%' select s

[int_19h]

SQL was designed back when https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth-generation_programming_... was a thing. One part of that was a preference for "more natural" syntax, in a sense of mapping closer to regular English. The rationale was that a sufficiently high-level language with "natural" syntax can be easily taught to non-programmers, so that they can make reports directly etc.

This supposed benefit was never actually realized; instead, we got a language more convoluted than it had to be, and programmers specializing in solving hard problems with it. This seems to be one of those cyclical things in the industry where each generation of engineers has to re-learn by repeating the same mistake - witness all the "low-code" and "no-code" buzz today.