The examples might not be 100% accurate, but my point is that if you know what you're doing, syntax shouldn't be too much of a problem. How long did it take you to see the differences between the two blocks of code? And notice how syntax is consistent across the language, so the differences between a language and another tend to be consistent also.

Not sure why you're even pointing any of this out because the things you pointed out are pretty much generic to all popular languages. A lot of them are concepts that came about from having to work with assembly and don't really say anything about the logic of a language.

Python and C++ might superficially seem similar, but they share as many similarities as cars and cows.

the things you pointed out are pretty much generic to all popular languages.

The point I'm trying to make is that these basic concepts are what a new programmer should be learning, and just like you said, they are very much alike between languages. It doesn't really matter is the OP starts out with Java or Javascript, learning these building blocks, and most importantly the reasoning behind them, will make the transition from one to the other painless.

The examples might not be 100% accurate, but my point is that if you know what you're doing, syntax shouldn't be too much of a problem. How long did it take you to see the differences between the two blocks of code? And notice how syntax is consistent across the language, so the differences between a language and another tend to be consistent also.

Now do the same with Scheme, R, Erlang or even Mips Asm and then tell me they look similar. I get the point you are trying to make but you are over simplifying the issue.