What is the difference between CROSS JOIN and multiple tables in one FROM?

Question

What is the difference?

SELECT a.name, b.name
FROM a, b;

SELECT a.name, b.name
FROM a
CROSS JOIN b;

If there is no difference then why do both

Answer 1

Both expressions perform a Cartesian product of the two given tables. They are hence equivalent.

Please note that from SQL style point of view, using JOIN has been the preferred syntax for a long time now.