The first language I learned was VB6 (ewww), after that C, C++, Java, JavaScript and PHP, only a few years ago I started to hear a lot about Python, Ruby, etc.
I don't see what's the problem with the braces and semicolons, I got used to write them and I don't see it affect my coding speed or code readability, in fact I find it easier to read code with braces and semicolons, I learned a little of python a few months ago and ignoring the fact that I do not know the language syntax very well (or more common libraries) yet, I write it as quickly as I would write Java/C etc, for readability I read python slower but as I said I'm not used to the syntax/libraries/etc yet so that may be the problem.
This code:
do a <- [1,2,3]
b <- [4,5,6]
return $ a + b
do {
a <- [1,2,3];
b <- [4,5,6];
return $ a + b
}
do { a <- [1,2,3]; b <- [4,5,6]; return $ a + b; }
do { a <- [1,2,3]
; b <- [4,5,6]
; return $ a + b }