Why does Python use a syntax without curly braces to declare sets, unlike other programming languages?

In Python, a set is declared using curly braces, for example {1, 2, 3}, but an empty set cannot be created this way because {} is interpreted as an empty dictionary. Therefore, the set() function is used to create an empty set.

The reason is that in Python, the syntax {} was initially reserved for dictionaries, and for backward compatibility and clarity, it was decided not to change this behavior. Thus, to avoid ambiguity and confusion, an empty set is created using set(), not {}.

Example:

empty_dict = {}
empty_set = set()

print(type(empty_dict))  # <class 'dict'>
print(type(empty_set))   # <class 'set'>

This approach ensures clarity and unambiguity in the language syntax.