"The environment is unable to complete at this point because it doesn't know what table/join I'll be selecting from."
I got that
"If SQL syntax were the more natural FROM [join description] SELECT [projection] ..."
IMO this is a very minor inconvenience compared to the power of SQL for managing large datasets, when one knows how to use it. You are welcome to propose a new standard, but I wonder if you considered all the implications of this change on things other than the convenience of typing?
With MS-Access, I used to solve this with a 3 line VB procedure that outputs the list of field names. With Postgresql, I simply run this query (the table has 34 fields) :
SELECT column_name FROM information_schema.columns WHERE table_name = 'tblcontentieux';
A few key strokes in Emacs to add the table identifier t1 to each field (just a simple replace-string) and the appropriate SQL. Very easy, I did it just for fun, and did not type any of these field names :
SELECT t1.id_contentieux, t1.id_etat, t1.affaire, t1.libelle, t1.date_debut_contentieux, t1.date_fin_contentieux, t1.ref_dossier, t1.ref_avocat, t1.ref_huissier, t1.ref_assureur, t1.id_service, t1.notes_contentieux, t1.id_categorie, t1.id_position, t1.id_nature, t1.suivi_par, t1.montant, t1.id_site, t1.id_client, t1.description, t1.franchise, t1.id_keyword, t1.ref_archive, t1.remboursement_prevu, t1.address1, t1.address2, t1.ville, t1.code_postal, t1.id_budget, t1.responsabilite, t1.id_agent, t1.id_contrat, t1.id_garantie, t1.id_objet_parc FROM tblcontentieux t1;