title: Is whitespace optional in SQL queries?
body: <p>I have noticed that using either Oracle or SQLite, queries like this are perfectly valid</p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT*FROM(SELECT a,MAX(b)i FROM c GROUP BY a)WHERE(a=1)OR(i=2);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is that a “feature” of SQL that keywords or words of a query need not be surrounded with whitespace? If so, why was it designed this way? SQL has been designed to be readable, this seems to be a form of obfuscation (particularly the <code>MAX(b)i</code> thing where <code>i</code> is a token which serves as an alias).</p>