Indeed, it's the overall "experience" (for lack of a better word) of programming in a particular language that matters. That's influenced by not just the synta

Indeed, it's the overall "experience" (for lack of a better word) of programming in a particular language that matters. That's influenced by not just the syntax and structure of a language but also by all of the development tools, libraries, frameworks, documentation, and tutorials available, as well as the methods of working that those enable (i.e. REPL versus fast deployment, compilation steps required, ability to reload code on the fly, etc.).