merits of Lisp vs Python

[Jan Dries]

Bill Atkins wrote:
> greg <greg at cosc.canterbury.ac.nz> writes:
>> On the plus side, Python makes less demands on the
>> capabilities of the editor. All you really need
>> is block-shifting commands. Bracket matching is
>> handy for expressions but not vital, and you
>> certainly don't need bracket-based auto-indenting.
> 
> Oh, please.  So we should restrict the power of the languages we
> choose just to make sure that our code can be edited in Notepad?

Perhaps not. The use of a decent editor seems a fair requirement for any 
language. But one of the things that I dislike about Java, .NET and to 
some extent XML (XML Schema for instance), is that the only way to 
really be productive in these languages/environments is to use tools 
that generate or otherwise manage huge amounts of code for you based on 
whatever GUI settings. If the language is so complex or verbose that you 
can't really use it without a GUI tool, then why bother having a 
language in the first place. Furthermore these tools are typically 
expensive and to run comfortably they require more processing power and 
memory than the lightweight ultra-portable type laptops that I like so 
much can provide.

I can't speak about Lisp, but the great thing about Python, IMHO, is 
that you can get quite far with not much more than Notepad. I find this 
important because I find GUIs a very tedious and ineffective way to 
describe whatever it is that I am trying to implement.

Perhaps I'm just getting old ...

Regards,
Jan