Lisp has too many parentheses...
symbo1ics.com
Lisp has too many parentheses...
1–10 of 81 posts
Re: Lisp has too many parentheses...
#2Nice article. Though a bit smug; Forth (or even Scheme) have a much cleaner syntax than the Lisp advertised here.
Re: Lisp has too many parentheses...
#3Gaaah, knock off the CAPSLOCK and the machismo, please.
Also, you don't need to invent backcronyms for CAR/CDR, they're now called first/rest.
Having said that, I really like the presentation of your blog, nice typography. And after skimming your book[1] in progress, and noting your obvious theoretical bent and taste for rigor, I can only anticipate to read more of your future posts (latch on to something "obscure" like ACL2 and make something fun with it.)
[1] http://symbo1ics.com/blog/?page_id=77
[Edit:
The book has code samples in 4 different languages; LISP (the ancient cap-cased "one"), ML, C, and what looks like Pascal. If you want to learn about the axiomatic specification of computer programs, specially for "structured" programming, then look into the works of Gries and others, specially in the silver "Texts and Monographs In Computer Science" books (the entire series is a feast of delight that should be devoured, and washed down with heirloom, stolen wine):
The Science of Programming, Gries.
The Design of Well-Structured and Correct Programs, Alagic and Arbib.
The selection Programming Methodology edited by Gries has various approaches to the structured method, with contributions from Dijkstra, Hoare, Wirth, Reynolds and other rock-stars of axiomatic semantics and verification.]
Re: Lisp has too many parentheses...
#4Gaaah, knock off the CAPSLOCK and the machismo, please. Also, you don't need to invent backcronyms for CAR/CDR, they're now called first/rest. Having said that, I really like the presentation of your blog, nice typography. And after skimming your book[1] in progress, and noting your obvious theoretical bent and taste for rigor, I can only anticipate to read more of your future posts (latch on to something "obscure" l…
Exactly what I was thinking, though I do still enjoy seeing CAR and CDR. But I'm the kind of guy who likes steampunk, and it's in the same vein.
I, too, am looking forward to more posts; it's worth checking out the posts that are up already. Definitely my kind of thing (see my http://copperthoughts.com/p/set-theory-and-lisp/).
This is where I'll refer people who know nothing about Lisp when they complain about it; not too self-righteous, pleasantly informative, and theoretically interesting.
Re: Lisp has too many parentheses...
#5Anyone manage to build a Lisp that used semantic indentation (like Python)? You could make it optional and just have it function as a preprocessor that generates the real thing.
Re: Lisp has too many parentheses...
#6"Dorsal" means "top", like where the dorsal fin on a fish is. It doesn't even remotely mean "everything except the front". (The belly of a fish is "ventral".)
Re: Lisp has too many parentheses...
#7Anyone manage to build a Lisp that used semantic indentation (like Python)? You could make it optional and just have it function as a preprocessor that generates the real thing.
Perhaps Haskell can be an inspiration?
Re: Lisp has too many parentheses...
#8This argument/response comes up every time....
Argument: "Lisp has too many parentheses. It's unreadable."
Response: "It's conceptually elegant that everything is parentheses."
This doesn't address the real point -- you can't read it well. You do get advantages for macros and symbolic processing. But the cost in readability is still there.
Re: Lisp has too many parentheses...
#9"Dorsal" means "top", like where the dorsal fin on a fish is. It doesn't even remotely mean "everything except the front". (The belly of a fish is "ventral".)
"Dorsal" means "top", like where the dorsal fin on a fish is.
e.g. "of, pertaining to, or situated at the back, or dorsum."
Seems fish are the oddball, in a way. Their top is basically their back.
Re: Lisp has too many parentheses...
#10And machine code printed in binary is all 1's & 0's. What could be more elegant than that?