Re: Be afraid of XML

From: Mario S. Mommer (m_mommer_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 03/12/04 

Date: 12 Mar 2004 19:20:54 +0100

heliosc@mindspring.com (Rayiner Hashem) writes:
> > Still, there seems to be a common conception that "lisp is rocket
> > science", i.e. not possible to even learn for the foot soldier
> > programmer.
> Lisp isn't rocket-science, its just different. And learning things
> that are different is hard. When you just start learning CL, so many
> differences just hit you at once (parens, car/cdr, generic functions,
> symbols, quote, etc) that a programmer coming from a C++/Java
> background just goes into shock. Many of them stop right there and
> don't go any further. If the continue, they'll find that many of the
> initial mental associations they've made (eg: Lisp symbol = C++
> identifier) break down when confronted by advanced (for C++) usages
> such as putting symbols in lists. The tools associated with Lisp are
> also unfamiliar. You've got a different development paradigm
> (interactive vs compile/test/debug), you've got a different
> distribution paradigm, even a different compilation paradigm
> (in-language vs external tool). Then there are libraries like CLIM
> (panes and sheets and gadgets, oh my!) which personally strike fear
> into my heart.

I have never understood this phenomenon. I am usually fairly happy
when things are different and interesting. And if on top of that they
are powerful, then I'm elated. I've never been afraid of a piece of
technical knowledge, and must say that I find the idea funny. I mean,
is it going to melt your brain?