Saying what you want first rather than what you have is evidence of the von Neumann bottleneck or it was a sign of the times when SQL was being developed on 1970s machine.
Either way, point taken that it is not like a proof.
Covey’s: “start with the end in mind” is not a bad advise when building something complex. With procedural languages you do the same, you first write the signature, parameters expected to go in and out, and then you start writing the way to achieve this.