> str.parse(Int).abs is more readable than abs(parse(Int, str)).

Oof, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I appreciate the regularity of abs(parse(Int, str)) rather than remember what to call as a function, and what must be called as a method of some object. Of course my preference would be for a syntax that has the added benefit of getting rid of extraneous commas:

(abs (parse int str))

> 1-based indexing

Again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A lot of relevant math is 1-indexed. Also, I guess Julia supports arbitrary indexing, though I understand that defaults matter.