Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 06:27:53 01/23/04
Go up one level in this thread
On January 23, 2004 at 03:37:46, Tord Romstad wrote: >On January 22, 2004 at 22:58:00, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>you know, when I was first introduced to Lisp a _long_ time ago, I looked >>the person right in the eye and said "that is a write-only language." >> >>My opinion has not changed. > >Then just go ahead and hack the readtable to your liking. Lisp is not called >a "programmable programming language" for no reason. The syntax, like most >other aspects of the language, is fully programmable. Readtables are >first-class objects and can be copied, manipulated, passed to and returned >from functions. You can even change it at runtime if you want. It won't >even break your macros. Why not also hack the BNF grammer for C to fix the things I don't like there? oops. <portability> :) That is _still_ an important concept. > >You may wonder why hardly anyone uses anything except the default s-expression >syntax. The reason is that all experienced Lisp programmers learn to love the >syntax, and find it to be one of the main attractions of the language. It is >not at all difficult to read, once you get used to it. I read Lisp code >much more easily and fluently than any of the more mainstream languages. I have done lots of lisp programming in the past. However I would never say that ((((((((((x))))))))))) is easier to read than well-written C that is indented reasonably... > >>:) >> >>Thank goodness vi supports the % key. :) > >The editor friendlyness is one of the benefits of the syntax. Thanks to >the syntax, Lisp code is much easier and faster to write, manipulate >and navigate than code in other languages. When writing C code, I am >forced to take a very low-level approach to editing, and move around, >copy and delete code on a line or character basis most of the time. >When writing Lisp code, I can navigate by expressions rather than by >lines and characters. If you write C properly, moving stuff around is very easy. I do this all the time with no problem. It just requires some discipline in indenting so that when you move a block, you only move a block... > >Tord
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