I totally agree, type inference speed writing a code, nothing more.

For easy cases reading such code is OK (var path = "/usr/bin/whatever" - obvious), but with a more complex code it becomes awful.

I'm a C++ programmer, and quite often I have to dig through dozens of headers to find out what this magic "auto" really means.

That's because C++ combines type inference with a gnarly compilation process. In a language like Java, editors will support it and you'll just be able to "mouse over" (or press a key combo in Vim/Emacs) and it'll tell you the inferred type.

A good point, I didn't consider IDE support.

Good C++ IDEs do the same.