Good to have a mix. Here's an example. Lua is managed by three men of very different programmer types: an academic, an industry person, perhaps the third is more artistic. With the goal of having a little language, nothing makes it in unless the three can agree. Makes for some clever, clever compromises. At the superficial level, can't decide howToCase multiple_word functions, so core functions are one word. Another. Whitespace sensitivity or semicolons separators? Neither. Have a grammar that ignores whitespace and doesn't require semicolons.