If you were adding to the codebase, you could write the code using Snow. You could also rewrite select portions that you regularly need to work on, as opposed to having to port the entire codebase to another language.
Again, what is the advantage to be gained by simply reducing syntax? Programming efficiency? Saving a few key strokes?
Your suggested approach would certainly add more drag for little gain for programming teams.
Developers would be better served optimizing performance, not messing around with simplifying syntax. For that reason, HipHop a worthwhile addition to the PHP canon; this not at all.
Reducing syntax noise can theoretically make code easier to read and write. I personally don't go for that approach, but others swear by it and if it increases their productivity and makes them happier then that's a good thing.
Optimizing performance and making writing/managing code easier are two different problems and not mutually exclusive. Code written in Snow can then be optimized with HipHop.
I am genuinely perplexed by the fact that you don't seem to realize syntax is not just what you write, it's also what you read. Anything that makes code easier to read and understand is a win.
Python is just as "worthless" as Snow by the metric you're espousing here, because the benefits of Python over well-optimized C are in simplicity of reading and writing, not runtime performance.
