Something like "i: int" is superior (at least in Scala), because the type annotation is optional. You can drop it, and just say "val i = 42". I believe it simplifies the parser as well.
There is a reason many modern languages are adopting the style.
i: int 0 = ;
int x = 0 "There is an integer x with value 0"
x: int = 0 "x is an integer with value 0"
x: int 0 = "x is an integer that is zero valued"
The last one is awkward, the first one is harder to read.
int i; // i is a local int
int i(); // i is a global function returning an int
int i(0); // i is a local int initialized to 0.
It can actually get worse, to the point where it's impossible to tell whether a given line of code is a declaration or not. E.g. "a<b>c" can be a declaration "a<b> c", or it can be an expression "((a < b) > c)", depending on what "a" is, exactly. This can be taken to 11 with templates:
template<size_t N = sizeof(void*)> struct a {
template<int> struct b {};
};
template<> struct a<sizeof(int)> {
enum { b };
};
enum { c, d };
a::b<c>d;
syntax "beauty" is just a matter of how used to it you are (excl brainfuck ofcourse). Admitting this, is quite a big present one can give to him/her self.
int i = 0; // pretty
i : int = 0; // ugly
i will stick to c++03 thank u very much.