Did you know that almost all your example is perfectly doable in Python? Try this:

  def       my_func     (      )    :
      
      a        =      1

      return       a

It will run without a problem because only leading space is significant. Then you can mix tabs and spaces, add the space you want, blank lines, etc.

The Python coding style guideline (PEP 8) is very specific in that it recommends the use of 4 leading spaces per level. You can use a very simple program with regular expressions to solve any problem you could have in the mix of tabs and spaces in your files.

Now, try this example in FORTRAN.

  parameter(x=2)
  print*,"The parameter is ",x

Why can't I use commas or parentheses to delimit all the tokens in Go? Why does it insert semicolons without asking? Is such an arbitrary and problematic decision as the significant leading whitespace in Python.