[batiste]

> pedantically instructs the programmer how to properly do what’s requested, even though it obviously know what is meant (since it’s displaying the error message).

As others explained exit is an object and just typing it's name is just calling the __repr__ method. Exiting the program on a __repr__ would be setting an horrible example in the mind of a Python programmer: it's oki to execute program ending code into the representation of an object. So no, nothing pedantic about setting reasonable expectations about a language... In python if you want things to happen you have to use parenthesis.