> Essentially, what gets expressed using punctuation in mainstream programming languages is instead described by a short sentence.

It's not too different from what you'd find in a mathematical proof, or even in actual descriptions of algorithms from old mathematical texts. In that context, usually "word" descriptions are appropriate at the highest structural level of a proof or algorithm, while symbols are handy for the most detailed steps. Of course, this is a claim about what humans are comfortable with; a compiler can deal with any formalized text, whether textual or symbolic.