A line terminator on *nix isn't a line terminator on Windows, which is a big deal if line termination ends a statement, and that assumes the file isn't modified in transit.

Yet somehow, Python doesn't have this problem - it simply treats both types of line terminators as valid. So do all other modern languages that rely on whitespace.

And semicolons are optional in JavaScript, makes it whitespace sensitive I suppose.

Yes and no.

The language specification requires the use of semicolons. If a semicolon is not supplied the interpreter will insert it for you. That magical insertion step is referred to as ASI. I don't remember if ASI is mentioned in the spec (as I don't think it is), but at the very least it is a de facto standard as missing ASI breaks the web.

As stupid as all that sounds... semicolons are actually required to terminate statements in JavaScript.

And yet somehow the web doesn't break when one programmer uses \r\n while another uses \n. What was your original point about line terminators in this context?

I suppose that goes to how the language defines line termination and whether that language is OS aware. JS is completely independent of its execution context. Python may achieve this as well, and if so, then I am wrong in my thoughts about Python.

Here is how JavaScript does this:

* https://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/#sec-source-text

* https://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/#sec-line-termin...

ASI is defined in the spec here: https://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/#sec-automatic-s...