Python syntax in Lisp and Scheme

[Matthias]

Kenny Tilton <ktilton at nyc.rr.com> writes:

> Pascal Costanza wrote:
> >> No studies, tho.
> > Here they are: http://home.adelphi.edu/sbloch/class/hs/testimonials/
> 
> Oh, please:
> 
> "My point is... before I started teaching Scheme, weak students would
> get overwhelmed by it all and would start a downward spiral. With
> Scheme, if they just keep plugging along, weak students will have a
> strong finish. And that's a great feeling for both of us!"
> 
> That kind of anecdotal crap is meaningless. We need statistics!
> Preferably with lots of decimal places so we know they are accurate.
> 
> :)

Why the smiley?  Many hours of discussions could be spared if there
were real, scientific, solid studies on the benefit of certain
language features or languages in certain domains or for certain types
of programmers.  It would help get successful languages become
accepted in slow/big/dump organizations.  It would point language
designers in the right directions. Project leaders could replace
trail-and-error by more efficient search techniques.  (Assuming for a
second, programmers or managers would make rational decisions when
choosing a programming language and having available trustworthy
data.)

I imagine such studies are quite hard to do properly, but having them
would be useful.