--- title: Choosing a Language Based on its Syntax? | daily.dev description: The creator of the Odin programming language argues that judging a language purely by its declaration syntax is irrational. He categorizes declaration styles... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/choosing-a-language-based-on-its-syntax--xrco3kucb twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Choosing a Language Based on its Syntax? | daily.dev og:description: The creator of the Odin programming language argues that judging a language purely by its declaration syntax is irrational. He categorizes declaration styles... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/choosing-a-language-based-on-its-syntax--xrco3kucb og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/XrCO3Kucb.png og:image:alt: Choosing a Language Based on its Syntax? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Choosing a Language Based on its Syntax? **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 11 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The creator of the Odin programming language argues that judging a language purely by its declaration syntax is irrational. He categorizes declaration styles (type-focused, name-focused, qualifier-focused) and explains that syntax is largely superficial compared to a language's semantics. Using Odin as a case study, he covers semicolon handling, automatic semicolon insertion approaches across Go, Python, and Odin, and how declaration syntax reflects deeper semantic choices. He attributes syntax-based language rejection to 'first exposure bias' and advises language designers to ignore superficial syntax complaints, urging developers to evaluate languages on their semantics rather than aesthetics. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Language Design](https://daily.dev/posts/language-design-8a2ozjceq) · Lobsters · 3 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#language-design](https://daily.dev/tags/language-design) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/choosing-a-language-based-on-its-syntax--xrco3kucb) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Choosing a Language Based on its Syntax?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/choosing-a-language-based-on-its-syntax--xrco3kucb","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/choosing-a-language-based-on-its-syntax--xrco3kucb"},"datePublished":"2026-02-19T23:47:37.988Z","dateModified":"2026-02-19T23:47:57.623Z","description":"The creator of the Odin programming language argues that judging a language purely by its declaration syntax is irrational. 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