Given the response a lot of people have to Erlang's syntax (borrowed from Prolog), that has commas, periods, and yes, meaningful casing distinctions (atom vs va

Given the response a lot of people have to Erlang's syntax (borrowed from Prolog), that has commas, periods, and yes, meaningful casing distinctions (atom vs variable), I'm going to go out on a limb that any benefit from scansion is offset by effort in writing. Further, I'll go out on a limb and say that the benefit of reading has NOTHING to do with audience reception of the syntax (whether that audience is new to the language, or extremely experienced with it), and instead has everything to do with what seems familiar. (I.e., I think I'm in agreement with you in that it's what people's habits are as to whether it's appreciated or not; I'm just disagreeing that improved readability is a factor in whether people appreciate the extra boilerplate, or the possible implication that it's a net gain)