Re: SBCL is now faster than Java, as fast as Ocaml, and getting better

Jon Harrop <jon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote on Sat, 12 Jul 2008:
Kaz Kylheku wrote:
62 tokens.

Only if you ignore the superfluous parentheses that make up most of the Lisp
code, which is absurd because they are essential in Lisp.

What ought to matter is the cognitive effort required to write or understand
the code. The parentheses in Lisp do not occupy cognitive effort. Real Lisp
programmers (but perhaps not you) don't really even see them.

So, yes, it is appropriate to "ignore" the parentheses, when estimating how
complex a piece of Lisp code is.

Terseness isn't everything, and let's not forget that it is one dominant
attribute of obfuscated programming contest entries.

You may have noticed that almost all programmers disagree with you: huge
numbers of superfluous parentheses being one of the most complained about
disadvantages of Lisp.

Complained about ... by NON-lisp programmers. People with no experience in
the language believe (incorrectly) that the parentheses require cognitive
effort and make the code more complex.

ACTUAL lisp programmers do not cite the parentheses as a disadvantage.
(Conversely, most cite them as an advantage, particularly when editing code.)

In fact, from time to time various lisp programmers embark on a syntax change
to lisp, to eliminate the parentheses, spurred by the same error you make here.
Each time, they eventually realize that nobody cares about their efforts,
and they were wrong to believe that they were solving a real problem in the
language.

-- Don
_______________________________________________________________________________
Don Geddis http://don.geddis.org/ don@xxxxxxxxxx
Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?
-- Charlie McCarthy (ventriloquist puppet)
.

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