I can define the return format of my query in the SELECT statement, then adapt the data structure in the FROM block using subselects, aliases etc — all to give me the shape desired for the query.
If you've ever done complex querying with SQL, you'd know that you'd go back and forth on all parts of the query to get it right unless you knew the relations by heart, regardless of the order (sometimes you'll have to rework the FROM because you changed the SELECT is the point).
And the objectively worst way is to put the SELECT in the middle, because it ignores the relationship between the query and the rest of the code that interacts with it, making it more difficult to read - and reading the code is done a lot more than writing the code.
I can define the return format of my query in the SELECT statement, then adapt the data structure in the FROM block using subselects, aliases etc — all to give me the shape desired for the query.
If you've ever done complex querying with SQL, you'd know that you'd go back and forth on all parts of the query to get it right unless you knew the relations by heart, regardless of the order (sometimes you'll have to rework the FROM because you changed the SELECT is the point).