cool, that would work too. my preference is leading separators so the separators are all in a visual column. being in a visual column allows the eye to discount the separators easily.

typically names are different lengths and the commas are hard/harder to spot

Your suggestion:

  SELECT
     first_column,
     second_column_wider_a_lot,
     (third + fourth_combined_expression),
  1 as pad FROM

vs my current preference:

  SELECT 1 as pad
     , first_column
     , second_column_wider_a_lot
     , (third + fourth_combined_expression)
  FROM