Python's Lisp heritage

[John Roth]

"James J. Besemer" <jb at cascade-sys.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.1019381679.10995.python-list at python.org...
>
>
> That being said, I guess I just don't get the strong reaction to this
secondary
> point.  I'm new here but I get the impression that "lisp" is a naughty
word,
> for some unfathomable reason (unless it's simply that it's syntax
sucks).  For
> me to say Python shares many concepts from Lisp is intended as praise.
You
> react as if it's some kind of an insult.

I think what people are trying to tell you is that many of the
features that Lisp pioneered are now features of so many
languages that it simply isn't necessary to quote Lisp as a
direct ancestor of anything, unless you're doing historical
research.

Python has a well understood ancestry, starting with the
experimental ABC language, and continuing on with
suggestions from a wide variety of sources.

One of the things that is most unusual about Python is
it's rejection of bracketing where it isn't needed:
using indentation for block structure is one example.
This is diametrically opposed to Lisp.

John Roth