Python complaints

[Gareth McCaughan]

Markus Stenberg wrote:

> I have always found lisp-ish syntax of "masses of ()s" disconcerting in
> large amounts - admittedly, I've written more than few lines of
> [ce]lisp/scheme/.., but never enjoyed browsing the results very much. I
> consider Dylan to be "readable" clisp.

One quickly gets used to Lisp syntax. Like using indentation to
denote block structure. :-) After a while, you just stop noticing
all those parentheses.


> From trivial example - do you consider (+ 2 (* 3 4)) more readable than 2 +
> 3 * 4 most languages (including Dylan) allow me to do?

No, I don't. But I don't consider it hugely less readable,
and that really is the *worst* case for Lisp syntax. Really
complicated expressions are about equally readable either
way; and Lisp's great (excessive?) simplicity makes possible
its great macro system. And *that* lets me make a lot of
things much more readable than they otherwise would be.

-- 
Gareth McCaughan  Gareth.McCaughan at pobox.com
sig under construction