[tikhonj]

Amusingly, I agree with your premise but not really your conclusion. Adding a semi-colon is like adding parentheses. But I think redundant parentheses add visual clutter--unless I have a very complicated expression, I leave them off. (Maybe it's the Haskell code style rubbing off on me...)

So I actually think that 1 + 2 * 3 is better than 1 + (2 * 3). I usually find reading a line with less stuff easier, so I prefer the shorter between two equivalent expression.

Besides, adding a semi-colon is more like surrounding the whole expression with parentheses rather than just grouping. And you would never write (1 + (2 * 3)). And yet that also says, loud and clear, the same thing!

I've used some languages with optional semi-colons--Python and Haskell, for example. I've never thought that missing them made the code less readable--it's always been the opposite. Going back to Java and having to use semi-colons everywhere becomes increasing annoying as I grow more acclimated to languages without.

In short, I see where you're coming from but don't really agree.