What can you do in LISP that you can't do in Python

[Thomas Bellman]

kc5tja at dolphin.openprojects.net (Samuel A. Falvo II) writes:

> Forth has very similar abilities, and almost never manages to use macros.

Ah, yes, I had managed to momentarily forget about Forth.  It too
is very powerful in that way.  The only Forth dialect I have
studied and used in any depth, though, is the one in the British
computer Jupiter ACE.  (The Jupiter ACE is from about the same
time as Sinclair ZX Spectrum, and is very similar to the ZX-81
and Spectrum.  Not surprising when you know that some of the same
people were involved...  And the Forth manual, by Steven Vickers,
is great fun to read!)

Anyway, Forth has a lot of other limitations.  It's really
designed to handle integers, and a little bit of strings.
Advanced data structures like lists or trees are a bit more
of a chore...  And you still can't pass around and manipulate 
*code* with the same ease as in LISP.

Aahhh!  You've made me long for doing some programming in Forth
again!  Got to find myself a Forth interpreter (or possibly write
one myself :-), and find some project to do in Forth...  You evil
you! :-)


-- 
Thomas Bellman,   Lysator Computer Club,   Linköping University,  Sweden
"I don't think [that word] means what you    !  bellman @ lysator.liu.se
 think it means."   -- The Princess Bride    !  Make Love -- Nicht Wahr!

I doubt that Inigo was thinking of Forth words when he made that
remark, though...