Why is Python popular, while Lisp and Scheme aren't?

[Alexander Schmolck]

Patrick W <patrickw106 at yahoo.com.au> writes:

> Martti Halminen <martti.halminen at kolumbus.fi> writes:
> 
> > Alexander Schmolck wrote:
> > 
> > > for item in container:             ; no convienient idiom (?)
> > >     print item
> > 
[...]
> And for acting upon each item within a container, the usual idiom is
> (mapcar #'function list) or (map 'output-type #'function sequence).
> The various mapping functions in Lisp remove a lot of the need for
> explicit loops (similar to the way in which list comprehensions
> replace many loops in modern Python).

While functional programming constructs like map replace the need for loops in
many cases, they don't replace the need for a generalized iteration protocol
(in python you can ``map`` or ``filter`` over any container).

alex