Except that you know/expect how exactly it will be executed and if it doesn’t, maybe test should not really pass. SQL in general is full of this “we write declarative queries expecting this exact imperative result and investigating if it’s not”. It’s much like an interview question: it may have many different answers, but you must provide the one that satisfies a grumpy plan builder guy. I know sql and use it when it’s shorter/more descriptive, but sometimes you just want to take them rows and do them things, without leaving a database process and its guarantees.

Not much db experience, but the fact that such powerful engines (i.e. acid, indexing, good ods, pooling, etc) are always hidden beyond some cryptic uppercase frontend with a weak execution layer always bothered me. Just give me that postgres-grade index scan directly in C, dammit. /rant (inb4 just write some parts as a sp in a language of choice)