Re: Why is LISP syntax superior?

keke@xxxxxxx (Takehiko Abe) writes:

[...]

ii) I tend to think in terms of binary operations and then something as

(* 1 2 3)

looks "non-mathematical". I would prefer

(* * 1 2 3)

Ah. I guess Lisp is not for you then.

I think that either you like it or you hate it on the first
sight. Do not try too hard. It's futile.

Not necessarily. At least, it wasn't for me. When I first saw lisp,
I thought the designers were simply too lazy to write a real parser
and that the language wasn't all that great. Much later, I stumbled
upon Paul Graham's essays where he claimed over and over that lisp was
the most powerful programming language ever invented, and after
reading several of them, I started believing him. To see what it's
all about, I bought Peter Seibel's excellent book, "Practical Common
Lisp," finally got macros and now I'm something of a convert.
Understanding macros is essential to appreciating the power of lisp,
though. IMO, if lisp didn't have its macro system, there'd be no
significant advantage over, say, Python and hardly any justification
for its (lack of) syntax.


Wolfram

.

Relevant Pages

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