Datalog is much better but sadly its recursion model requires thinking harder so most people bail too early. SQL is easier to understand so it sticks. SQL was

Datalog is much better but sadly its recursion model requires thinking harder so most people bail too early. SQL is easier to understand so it sticks. SQL was designed with an English-like syntax so it could be used by non-programmers. Before SQL, business people would write in English what they wanted and a programmer had to write a program to execute the pseudo-query. The pound of flesh: poor composability, ugly recursion (CTE), limited abstractions, and a "nightmare to parse". -- SQL engine developer