Comment by aragonite

I really wish SQL used "RETURN" instead of "SELECT" (like in XQuery):

1. Calling it "RETURN" makes the fact of its later order of execution (relative to FROM etc) less surprising.

2. "RETURN RAND()" just reads more naturally than "SELECT RAND()". After all, we're not really "selecting" anything here, are we?

3. Would also eliminate any confusion with the selection operation in relational algebra.