Powerful, absolutely yes. Beautiful? Absolutely not. This is of course subjective, but come on. Insofar as you can be objective about beautiful code, SQL stands

Powerful, absolutely yes. Beautiful? Absolutely not. This is of course subjective, but come on. Insofar as you can be objective about beautiful code, SQL stands over in the corner wishing it had remembered to shower while all the other kids are elegantly rotating on the dance floor. Except PHP. It's hiding in the bathroom.