Consider
al < bob | carol | dave edgar > frank
vs
cat bob | al | carol | dave edgar > frank
In the first, the data starts with bob, flows to the left into al, then back over bob and to the right via carol.
In the second, data flows left to right from bob to al to carol. Data flowing in one direction, left to right is easier to reason about than spiraling around, it’s easier to read (and much easier to skim!), which improves readability.
If you’re old, you’ll remember UUOC awards because “cat costs you a process so don’t use it”. Nonsense, that “useless cat” buys you
readability
which lets you code faster
which matters more than machine efficiency
which is unix approved