🚀 go-pugleaf

>As for the comments on the cryptic C syntax - yes, it is harder to
>read.  Reading speed is not measured in characters, but words;
>cognitively, word shapes have a lot to do with recognizing a word, and
>moderately long keywords separated by whitespaces are easier to read
>than bunched-together special characters (don't remember where I read
>that, though).

This sounds like a good argument.  However, you could take this to extremes.
For instance, why don't mathematicians write out "a squared plus b squared
equals c squared"?  (I've heard that COBOL just about goes this far.)
Another example: why don't musicians write out music in English, Italian,
or German instead of using musical notation?  In these cases, special symbols
do increase readability.  Human speech cannot clearly and quickly convey
mathematical or musical concepts, nor can it easily convey computer algorithms.