&gt; Making the developer interface to the database a structured format instead of a textual query language was a clear win.<p>No, it was not. It is an abomiation, just like SharePoint CAML Query or any other &quot;express-your-query-as-an-AST&quot; approach. Sure, it&#x27;s a paradise for Buzzword-Compliant Fluent Interface Enterprise Query Builder-type libraries.<p>&gt; Querying SQL data involves constructing strings...<p>No. Case in point: LINQ. How it is implemented is irrelevant to the statement above.<p>&gt; ...and counting arguments very carefully<p>No. Named parameters to the rescue.