I'd much rather debug an SQL query with CTEs, which is what that is approximating. The notion that SQL is not composable is either a lie or simply repeated by

I'd much rather debug an SQL query with CTEs, which is what that is approximating. The notion that SQL is not composable is either a lie or simply repeated by folks with only a cursory knowledge of SQL from 20 years ago. Views, set-returning functions, CTEs, and more: all examples of composability in SQL. Then of course there's the issue of security where folks tend to put all of their access constraints into their middleware AFTER the data has already been returned over the wire in bulk. Take a moment to consider role-based access control and row-level security policies. Instead of trying to track down every possible spot where a JOIN could have crept in past the code reviews (you code review your DDL and DML, right?), you set your GRANTs, REVOKEs, and POLICYs at the points in your data model that need them; restricted data never makes it into intermediate result sets let alone the final result set and the wire. Don't misunderstand me. GRANT, REVOKE, and POLICY can be a real PITA, but that's because *security* is a PITA, not the SQL syntax to enforce it. Anyone who tells you their app solves your data security problems in the app tier with a point and click is a lying salesman.