I can relate to how having print be "special" becomes a habit - but I think on balance, print() is simpler. Now, going down the rabbit hole of "no syntax" in t

I can relate to how having print be "special" becomes a habit - but I think on balance, print() is simpler. Now, going down the rabbit hole of "no syntax" in the end one walks by lisp/scheme and end up at lamdba calculus (or brainfuck...). Smalltalk has very little syntax. I've been thinking a bit about how simple is is simple enough for useful computer languages, with an emphasis on reading and writing. The Apl people claim dense notation is good, while I think that "pseudo code" should be enough - syntax is for communicating with humans, the machines have machine and byte code. Other [ed: "real" languages with rather concise syntax] are Julia, Kotlin and Nim. I find that using whitespace for blocks (or begin/end) is generally preferable to brackets - we generally only use parentheses in prose and poetry - typing []{}<> is invariably a little complicated with interfaces developed for typing text. @ is actually a little easier thanks to the rise of email (addresses). I'm biased though, as I generally use a Norwegian keyboard layout - making room for the three extra letters "æøå" exiles [{'< somewhat, which in turn pushes the backtick and a few other "easily available" punctuation marks firmly into repetitive stress syndrome territory.