&gt; Allowing explicit braces fixes deficiencies in python&#x27;s grammar. For example, multi-line lambdas aren&#x27;t currently possible in python.<p>I&#x27;d clarify that to &quot;lambdas can&#x27;t contain statements&quot;. Lambdas <i>can</i> contain expressions, which can be nested arbitrarily, have side-effects (e.g. tuples guarantee left-to-right evaluation of elements), and be spread across multiple lines. It&#x27;s not exactly pretty though ;)<p>I wrote about this a few years ago at <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;programmers.stackexchange.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;99243&#x2F;why-doesnt-python-allow-multi-line-lambdas&#x2F;252546#252546" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;programmers.stackexchange.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;99243&#x2F;why-doe...</a> and slightly more obtusely at <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;chriswarbo.net&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2012-11-17-anonymous_closures_in_python.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;chriswarbo.net&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2012-11-17-anonymous_closures_in_...</a>