Fwd: Python syntax in Lisp and Scheme

[Mark Wilson]

On Saturday, October 4, 2003, at 03:13 PM, Mario S. Mommer wrote:

>
> jcb at iteris.com (MetalOne) writes:
>> I have tried on 3 occassions to become a LISP programmer, based upon
>> the constant touting of LISP as a more powerful language and that
>> ultimately S-exprs are a better syntax.  Each time, I have been
>> stopped because the S-expr syntax makes we want to vomit.
>
> :-)
>
> Although people are right when they say that S-exprs are simpler, and
> once you get used to them they are actually easier to read, I think
> the visual impact they have on those not used to it is often
> underestimated.
>
> And to be honest, trying to deal with all these parenthesis in an
> editor which doesn't help you is not an encouraging experience, to say
> the least. You need at least a paren-matching editor, and it is a real
> big plus if it also can reindent your code properly. Then, very much
> like in python, the indent level tells you exactly what is happening,
> and you pretty much don't see the parens anymore.
>
> [snip]

While I'm a big fan of emacs, I use the Dr. Scheme editor for Scheme 
programming. It matches parentheses by highlighting the entire 
parenthesized expression, indicates unnecessary parentheses at the end 
of an expression and automatically indents for readability. It's syntax 
checker highlights out of place code within an expression. When program 
execution generates an error, it provides helpful arrows indicating the 
context in which the error occurred. Dr. Scheme is available here:

http://www.drscheme.org/

Regards,

Mark Wilson