Technically no, but it's a good idea to make it a habit to use the explicit inner join. *It is considered the standard nowadays, <<
Not when I was on the Standards Committee; did you join later than
me?
The INNER JOIN syntax is the current standard. It is considered
"standard" by those who actually work in the field. How long ago was
it that you were on the Standards Committee?
You seriously need to stop pulling this "I was on the committee" crap
in place of having a valid argument. The fact of the matter is, the
vast majority of us are using the INNER JOIN syntax. If you feel like
doing things the old way, whatever.
is easier to read and debug, <<
NO, it isn't; have you seen any of the human factors research? *
YES, it is. That is one of the main reasons why people who actually
work in the field have so widely adopted it. But just for fun, why
don't you post a link to the research that shows that the syntax
practically *everyone* has adopted with open arms is so much worse
than the syntax we all (just as willingly) dropped.
The ON clauses can be spread so far from the matching tables debugging time
increases. *Multiple parameter predicates like BETWEEN and IN are
split and their higher level meaning is lost.
Debugging time is actually diminished because the join criteria is not
mixed in with the filtering criteria. If you find yourself "losing"
predicates then maybe the problem is with you and not the syntax.
But it looks like ACCESS and has a nice binary operator feel that
procedural programmers like.
I could care less what looks like ACCESS. I don't personally use
ACCESS; have never been a fan.
and is consistent with the OUTER JOIN syntax. <<
Yes, that is the reason it exists.
Whatever the reason, the fact is it is currently the accepted industry
standard. If you do not realize/understand this, that is your issue.