I'm so used to using and reading the "AS" syntax for aliasing that if I came across this it'd throw me off. It seems to me that sticking everything in CTEs wou

I'm so used to using and reading the "AS" syntax for aliasing that if I came across this it'd throw me off. It seems to me that sticking everything in CTEs would be equally as jarring. Writing SQL or reading and understanding someone else's SQL is almost always a non-linear process, not least of all because the processing order by the database engine isn't top-to-bottom.