Lisp syntax vs. Mathematica syntax


Jon Harrop wrote:
> Ulrich Hobelmann wrote:
> > Jon Harrop wrote:
> >> Joe Marshall wrote:
> >>> Infix macros are *hard*.
> >>
> >> Do you mean it is difficult to implement infix in Lisp?
> >
> > No, others mentioned that *there are* infix parsers (reader macros) for
> > Lisp. Most people don't use them I guess :D
>
> Then why are they "hard"? Perhaps I misunderstood Joe. I thought he meant it
> was difficult to implement infix operators in Lisp. Now I'm thinking maybe
> he meant it is easy to implement infix operators but it is then difficult
> to write macros that use infix syntax?
>
> Presumably that is a Lisp-specific problem because Mathematica has no
> problem using infix notation...

Mathematica takes a TOTALLY different approach to programming
abstraction. And I'd hardly consider the resulting dog's breakfast as
"no problem."

Look how much punctuation Mathematica introduces to keep "infix"
notation going.

// to use postfix notation
~ f ~ to use prefix functions as infix
double square brackets for indexing
/@ and //@
^=
:=
^:=
/: with = (TagSet)
/: with := (TagSetDelayed)
single, double, triple underscore prefixes and suffixes
-> vs. :>
Hold, HoldForm, Literal, Unevaluated
_h
x_h
x_:v
x_h:v
x:pattern
pattern ? test
pattern1 | pattern2 | pattern3 ...
pattern /; condition

one could go on and on. I haven't even mentioned Mathematica's notation
for anonymous functions yet. None of this punctuation is used in
conventional mathematics.

Blech.

.

Relevant Pages

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