After Dart, where we "had to" use familiar syntax (JavaScript), we experimented with less-noisy syntax for Toit. We removed everything that wasn't necessary first. Over time we added some parts (like `extends`, `implements`, ...) back, but we got used to the non-parens calls (similar to shell or Caml) and like it now. To me, every other language feels cluttered and noisy.

Wrt performance: depending on the program/benchmark Toit is sometimes 10x faster than MicroPython. For small loops that just do some arithmetic it's less noticeable, but real programs with method-calls benefit a lot from the static class definitions.