* [Why use semicolons?](#semicolons)

<a name="semicolons"></a>

For the following reasons:

1. __Convention__: this project has historically used semicolons and has not found any reason compelling enough to stop doing so.

1. __Explicitness__: this project prefers explicitly terminating statements.

1. __Complexity__: while the [ECMAScript Specification][ecma-262-asi] provides rules governing automatic semicolon insertion ([ASI][ecma-262-asi]), structuring code around these rules increases cognitive overhead and does not provide significant tangible benefit (cumulative keystrokes aside). That workarounds must be employed to prevent [ASI][ecma-262-asi]-enabled errors (e.g., leading semicolons, etc) increases code complexity and imposes an unnecessary cost.

1. __Semantic meaning__: semicolons have semantic meaning within the project REPL. If a statement is not terminated by a semicolon, the REPL prints the statement's return value; otherwise, the REPL considers the statement silent. Such behavior is a common convention in other environments (e.g., MATLAB and Julia) and is especially convenient for silencing output involving large datasets.

1. __Consistency__: given that the project attaches additional meaning to semicolons, that library implementations should be "silent" is also a matter of consistency.

[ecma-262-asi]: https://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/5.1/#sec-7.9