> there is exactly one correct way to interpret code
No, there are different compilers, languages or even language versions or compilers settings. Programming notation is way harder and more confusing to learn than the math equivalent just because they are so many more styles languages or versions etc. And we all know that learning all of those symbols and keywords isn't the main difficulty with learning programming or new programming languages.
Of course different languages have different syntax, but it is a pretty hard requirement that within a (specific version of a language the syntax rules are both explicit and consistent.
No, there are different compilers, languages or even language versions or compilers settings. Programming notation is way harder and more confusing to learn than the math equivalent just because they are so many more styles languages or versions etc. And we all know that learning all of those symbols and keywords isn't the main difficulty with learning programming or new programming languages.