Readability for the newbie is a good thing when you're first learning a language, but it's a price you pay. I like this quote:

"Optimising your notation to not confuse people in the first 10 minutes of seeing it but to hinder readability ever after is a really bad mistake."

David MacIver, writing about Scala: http://rickyclarkson.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/in-defence-of-0l...