Why don't people like lisp?

[Rainer Deyke]

Raymond Wiker wrote:
> "Rainer Deyke" <rainerd at eldwood.com> writes:
>> Personally I'd prefer guaranteed immediate destructors over
>> with-open-file. More flexibility, less syntax, and it matches what
>> the CPython implementation already does.
>
>         Right... all along until CPython introduces a more elaborate
> gc scheme.
>
>         Note that reference-counting has problems with cyclic
> references; probably not something that will bite you in the case of
> open files, but definitely a problem you need to be aware of.

I'm all for more elaborate gc schemes.  In particular, I want one that gives
me guaranteed immediate destructors even in the presence of reference
cycles.  And I want to language specification to guarantee it.

Having to explicitly close files is something I'd expect in C or assembly,
but it has no place in high-level languages.  And "with-open-file" is too
limiting.  Let the computer do the work, not the programmer.


-- 
Rainer Deyke - rainerd at eldwood.com - http://eldwood.com