I would agree with the preference for Clojure-style syntax, though using a getter function makes more sense in a language like Clojure with immutable maps (as o

I would agree with the preference for Clojure-style syntax, though using a getter function makes more sense in a language like Clojure with immutable maps (as opposed to most of the languages you mentioned). At least in OO languages the dot operator feels too much like a class rather than a map/dictionary. An acceptable alternative is the C++ STL map square bracket indexing.