JavaScript's problem isn't that you can choose whether or not to use semicolons, it's that they're automatically put in for you if you omit them. http://lucumr

JavaScript's problem isn't that you can choose whether or not to use semicolons, it's that they're automatically put in for you if you omit them. http://lucumr.pocoo.org/2011/2/6/automatic-semicolon-insertion/ http://lucumr.pocoo.org/2011/2/6/automatic-semicolon-inserti... Technically, Python is a much better example of optional semicolons since you can use them and they're not required. Of course, the real reason they exist is for compound statements. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8236380/why-is-semicolon-allowed-in-this-python-snippet http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8236380/why-is-semicolon-...