Syntax is a MacGuffin

Working with Joy I've come around to the idea that syntax in programming languages is a kind of MacGuffin: you need it to move the story forward but it's unimportant in and of itself. The Maltese Falcon.

In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself.

You need *some* syntax for concrete (not imaginary) statements, and *parsing* is a vast, fun, and useful field, but the elaborations of syntax that characterize the history of programming language design are, I fear, going to prove largely irrelevant. With Joy anyway there has been little necessity so far to introduce more syntax.