I can't edit my comment anymore, but if I could I would replace "objectively" with "measurably" - there are "formulas" on the wiki page that I'm sure are applic

I can't edit my comment anymore, but if I could I would replace "objectively" with "measurably" - there are "formulas" on the wiki page that I'm sure are applicable to programming languages and program sources. And I don't disagree with you. Coffee is less readable than JavaScript: "->" is less readable than "function", for example, and "@" is less readable than "this". It's a matter of trade-offs, these shortcuts make the language harder to read, but easier to write; the assumption here is that people will be able to deal with this level of brevity when reading. I went and googled for a bit for articles talking about code readability, I found a few interesting discussions: http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=957782 http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=957782 http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=592616 http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=592616 http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Wrong.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Wrong.html Worth reading.