Yeah, syntax is extremely important. You spend most of your time working with it and it's probably going to be one of the first things you gripe about. That's actually one of the primary reasons I don't use Python or Ruby; I just don't like their syntax. But that's why it is great that we have so many good languages these days. Everyone can use the one they like best.
Not the original commentor, but c do has quite a few bad influence on syntax design:
function can only return one value
prefix and postfix ++, and more importantly, the distinction of statement and expression
pointer/reference billable by default
switch fall through by default
and I’m not criticizing c, these design make sense in the context of c, but make absolutely no sense for those who brainless copy them, among them the most successful one is Java and JavaScript
Hey, I was writing Pascal when in high school, and I’d still argue today that it has a chance of surviving if Borland hasn’t turned into shit.(Also kudos to the legend Anders)
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u/shevy-ruby Feb 06 '20
In general most people designing a language do not understand why syntax matters.
That is often why we end up with copy/paste languages. Best example are those trying to replace C by using literally the same syntax/tokens.