How explain why Python is easier/nicer than Lisp which has a simpler grammar/syntax?

[Richard Damon]

On 8/7/20 12:52 PM, Marco Sulla wrote:
> About statement vs expression: maybe you, Richard and
> 2QdxY4RzWzUUiLuE, are right, maybe not. This is hard to say, since the
> official C documentation is not public and you have to pay a small fee
> to obtain it.
>
> Anyway, I said "in C, the assignment is a statement that can be used
> in expression". You're saying "No, in C the assignment IS an
> expression".
> I don't see the difference. If the assignment is a statement that can
> be used as an expression, Python simply forbids that. If in C the
> assignment is an expression, Python on the contrary treats it as a
> statement.
>
> The only real difference is that Python not only clearly separated the
> concepts of statement and expression, but also _where_ you can use
> them, for practical reasons.

The difference is that the two languages define 'expression' differently.

In Python, the = operation is not part of the general expression syntax,
but is specifically allowed only in specific locations.

In C, the = operator is exactly like all the other operators in how it
is parsed, it just has some restrictions on the type that can be on the
left side, and that it changes that value (but then, so do a few other
operators like ++)

In C, there is NO 'statement' called an assignment statement, because
assignments are just parts of expressions, so the statement type
'expression statement' handles both.

In Python, because assignment is NOT just part of an expression, it
needs a separate statement type to handle assignments, to allow them.


(BTW, while the official C Standards are only available at a price, the
draft standards prepared during the development of the final are all
available for free and the last published draft standard is almost
always virtually identical to the final released standard, so most
people will just use those. People who really need the official versions
can pay the price for it, and for them, that price isn't that high to
them). I keep the free downloads of all the major version of the C and
C++ language available on my computer.

-- 
Richard Damon