[9rx]

> But SQL is "naturally composable" using string concatenation.

It is not. Not even in a simple case. Consider:

    base = "SELECT * FROM table LIMIT 10"
    cond1 = "WHERE foo = 1"
    cond2 = "WHERE bar = 2"

base + cond1 + cond2 or any similar combination will not produce a valid query. It could if SQL had some thought put into it. There are many languages that have no problem with such things. But that irrational fear of moving beyond the 1970s when it comes to SQL...

The only realistic way to assemble queries is to prepare an AST-like structure to figure out where the pieces fit, and then write that out to a final query string. In practice, that means either first parsing the partial queries into that structure (hard) or providing a somewhat SQL looking API in the host language that builds the structure (easy). Unsurprisingly, most people choose what is easy.

> I am sure neither of those "invented" the pattern.

None of these invented the pattern. But the invention point is irrelevant anyway. You must have misread something?