in reply to How do Monks programatically construct SQL selects
I don't. I tend to work in highly normalized schemas, with "interesting" queries (3-6 table joins, some non-equi-joins, some outer joins). I could spend time trying to warp a framework into generating workable queries, or I could code them by hand. So far, I've gotten there quicker by coding them by hand. By approaching the problem from use cases, building specific queries, I avoid having to solve a bunch of otherwise general-case problems, and can spend the time instead writing specific unit tests.
The problem with programatically generated queries is edge cases--particularly vendor-specific ones. By the time you fight your way around one or two of them, you've eaten up more time than you would have spent hand-coding a few dozen queries.