1. The syntax isn't "type id, id, id;", it's "type expr, expr, expr;" The trend for C-style languages have been to move to the former type syntax, so C/C++ is the anomaly here.

2. Pointer declarators show up to the left of the name while function and array declarators show up to the right of the name. This means you can't figure out the type by scanning in one direction. Contrast this with LLVM, where function arguments and pointer types both go to the right of the leaf type (while arrays are infix), or Rust, where they both live on the left of the leaf type.