I really like jvns's work but I have to say I found this diagram misleading when I first saw it! SQL queries "happen" in whatever order the database optimiser decides.
I'm really glad the accompanying article has a bunch of qualifications of the form "Database engines don’t actually literally run queries in this order" but a lot of the beauty of these diagrams is that they work on their own.
I wish the title of the picture said something more like "SQL queries are interpreted in this order" to make it clear we're talking about semantics and not what actually takes place.
I'm really glad the accompanying article has a bunch of qualifications of the form "Database engines don’t actually literally run queries in this order" but a lot of the beauty of these diagrams is that they work on their own.
I wish the title of the picture said something more like "SQL queries are interpreted in this order" to make it clear we're talking about semantics and not what actually takes place.