Why aren't we all speaking LISP now?

[John Flynn]

"Fredrik Lundh" <fredrik at pythonware.com> wrote in message
news:rxcL6.1689$Yu6.419699 at newsc.telia.net...
> Grant Edwards wrote:
> > Why do people think Python is so Lisp-like?
>
> I think the the correct question is "why do Lisp people
> think Python is so Lisp-like"

FWIW, Peter Norvig ("Lisp person" and expert hacker in anyone's language)
lists some pretty good reasons why they might do this. See www.norvig.com
(article: Python for Lisp Programmers). His interest in Python was
apparently motivated by a pragmatic interest in languages as vehicles for
teaching AI concepts; not as an academic exercise in classifying languages.

I may be imagining this, but there seems to be some mild annoyance on the
Pythonistas' part that some Lisp people want to subsume Python as a dialect
of 'their' tongue. It's understandable I guess, especially if Guido doesn't
particularly like Lisp and hasn't used it ;-)

In practice, though, I don't see that it matters whether Python is
classified as a dialect of Lisp by some Lispers. Even if Lisp is not a
direct ancestor of Python, a lot of its good features have found their way
into the breed somehow. (To me, as a beginner in both languages, they _do_
feel quite closely akin, regardless of ancestry).

IMHO, if some members of the Lisp community find Python attractive for this
reason, that's great. It's a deeply knowledgeable community, and it might
well lead to some interesting uses of Python in different domains.
Conversely, if a few Pythonistas are motivated to check out Lisp via
comparisons with Python, they could do much worse than learn some Lisp.

As long as certain Lispers don't get too 'uppity', or the Pythonistas too
hostile toward perceived (or actual ;-)) 'know-it-alls' invading their turf,
these discussions can and will lead to exchanges of ideas that broaden
everyone's minds. At least, that's what's happened in recent threads, as far
as I can see. I've enjoyed 'em anyway ...

Cheers,
J.