The semantics are much, much, more important for sure. I think the “language oriented programming” semantics of Racket are brilliant. I’ve been working on thi

The semantics are much, much, more important for sure. I think the “language oriented programming” semantics of Racket are brilliant. I’ve been working on this syntax question for 7 years, now full time at the Tree Notation Lab. I think there is a better way to do the syntax, which over time will have strong network effects, which will allow us to code faster and have more reliable code. But you are right, perhaps this will just lead to a 20% across the board improvement in programmer productivity—-the bigger improvements will always come in the semantic realm. I think the thing to keep in mind is that only a tiny amount of people are focused on the syntax issues, they just like to shout at each other.