Subject: Re: New to Lisp question: advantages of Lisp syntax?
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no>
Date: 1999/06/02
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3137271818084864@naggum.no>

* "Jonathan" <jonathan@meanwhile.freeserve.co.uk>
| The only weak feature I've discovered so far in Lisp is it's inability to
| attract attention to its strengths.

  well, how did _you_ discover it?  and why don't you think that's relevant?

| In particular, all the programmers I know mis-classify it as
| impractically slow.

  but why does this matter to you?  do they know anything about Lisp at all?

| I find its S-expression syntax fun to write, but it hasn't grabbed me in
| the same way.

  if you use an editor that supports movement based on parentheses, like
  Emacs, you may find yourself appreciating it more.  e.g., the ability to
  skip whole forms, move up and out of a form, or forward and down, and
  with some packages, to raise a form up a level, etc, you might find that
  navigation in code is much simplified by a regular use of delimiters.

| What I'd like to know, are there advantages to S-expression syntax that
| I'm going to come to know and love in the future?

  the simple answer is yes.  patience and willingness to learn and observe
  is all you need, and it will come to you.  if you push, you'll miss it.

#:Erik
-- 
@1999-07-22T00:37:33Z -- pi billion seconds since the turn of the century