Python syntax in Lisp and Scheme

[Alan Crowe]

MetalOne wrote
> If a set of macros could be written to improve LISP
> syntax, then I think that might be an amazing thing.  An
> interesting question to me is why hasn't this already been
> done.

I think the issue is the grandeur of the Lisp vision. More
ambitious projects require larger code bases. Ambition is
hard to quantify. Nevertheless one must face the issue of
scaling. Does code size go as the cube of ambition, or is it
the fourth power of ambition? Or something else entirely.

Lisp aspires to change the exponent, not the constant
factor. The constant factor is very important. That is why
CL has FILL :-) but shrinking the constant factor has been
done (and with C++ undone).

Macros can be used to abbreviate code. One can spot that one
is typing similar code over and over again. One says
"whoops, I'm typing macro expansions". Do you use macros to
tune the syntax, so that you type N/2 characters instead of
N characters, or do you capture the whole concept in macro
and eliminate the repetition altogether?

The point is that there is nowhere very interesting to go
with syntax tuning. It is the bolder goal of changing the
exponent, and thus seriously enlarging the realm of the
possible, that excites.

Alan Crowe