IMHO, without parens you will end up aiming for ml and matching. Otherwise removing everything will turn anything into ...

Without punctuation:

    int thing int a int b while c = a ++ > b b = 0 a = b + c return c

Well almost gibberish, I have to admit, infix and some mandatory keyword do help. But Lisps have this tendency to be structural ... so their syntax and idioms go along with that very often. It's somehow twisted to remove that from them.

Without types:

    thing a b while c = ++ a > b b = 0 a = b + c return c

Without most operator symbols:

    thing a b while c eq inc! a > b b = 0 a = sum b c return c

Keeping the process

    thing a b while c eq inc! a > b b isnow 0 a set-to sum b c return c

    thing a b while c eq inc! a gt b b isnow 0 a isnow sum b c c

Recovering a bit of alternative syntax:

    (int thing int a int b) while (c = a ++ > b. b = 0) a = b + c return c

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