There's surely some middle ground, here. PHP defines constants with a function, ...

eevee on April 10, 2012 | parent | context | favorite | on: PHP: A fractal of bad design

There's surely some middle ground, here. PHP defines constants with a function, creates functions with a function, creates data structures with a thing that isn't actually a function but is inexplicably designed to sorta resemble a function. Only now are these basic value definitions getting dedicated syntax.

stcredzero on April 10, 2012 [–]

If dedicated syntax looks that much better than functions, then there is something lacking in the syntax.