Python syntax in Lisp and Scheme

[Pascal Bourguignon]

Alexander Schmolck <a.schmolck at gmx.net> writes:
> > However, there is a class of *syntactic* error that is possible in
> > python, but is not possible in lisp (or C or any language with
> > balanced delimiters).  Moreover, this class of error is common,
> > frequently encountered during editing, and it cannot be detected
> > mechanically.
> 
> This argument basically boils down to "lisp is more redundant and
> therefore less error prone". This inself is not a valid argument as
> it depends on the type of redundancy and the extend to which this
> redundancy itself causes errors, e.g. by rendering the code more
> obscure by additional verbosity (as in xml compared to sexps);
> whether this redundancy helps or hinders perception and how this
> redundancy interferes with the editing process.
> 
> As an example of such interference in the case of lisp consider the
> example of commenting/deleteing/appending after a line with surplus
> trailing parens (corresponding ot opening parens in earlier
> lines). Conceptually this line is the same as all the other lines in
> the code in the same block, but you have to use quite different (and
> more complicated and error-prone) commands to achieve the same
> editing process. Not so in python.

Sorry  to be silly,  but the  space bar  is that  enormous key  at the
bottom of the keyboard, while  the parethensis are small keys up there
on the top of the keyboard, and need a simultaneous press on the shift
key.  My big  belly never inadvertently lean on  the parenthesis keys,
but on the space bar, yes...



-- 
__Pascal_Bourguignon__
http://www.informatimago.com/
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