It's more of a symptom of someone who doesn't understand what's actually going on, i.e. cargo cult scripting. Specifically, it indicates some combination of:

It's more of a symptom of someone who doesn't understand what's actually going on, i.e. cargo cult scripting. Specifically, it indicates some combination of: 1. isn't aware of processes/pipes 2. isn't aware of cat's "primary" functionality 3. isn't aware of shell input redirection 4. isn't aware that shell input redirection can be put before the command