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    5 hours ago

    For programming languages that make use of {}, the reason is (almost always) scope.

    Take for instance this:

    for i in 0..10
    do_thing();
    do_other_thing();
    

    compared to this:

    for i in 0..10 {
        do_thing();
    }
    do_other_thing();
    

    The intent of the first one is unclear. In the second one it’s clear you should loop do_thing() and then run do_other_thing() afterwards. The indentation is only for readability in the above though. Logically there would be no difference in writing

    for i in 0..10 { do_thing(); } do_other_thing();
    

    Languages that use indentation and line breaks for scope look more similar to this:

    for i in 0..10:
        do_thing()
    do_other_thing()