Python! Is! Truly! Amazing!

[Steve Holden]

Ron Garret wrote:

> In article <mailman.85.1104749220.22381.python-list at python.org>,
>  jfj <jfj at freemail.gr> wrote:
> 
> 
>>Ron Garret wrote:
>>
>>>In article <1104657461.868175.252380 at c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
>>> "Erik  Bethke" <erikbethke at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>I have NEVER experienced this kind of programming joy.
>>>
>>>
>>>Just wait until you discover Lisp!
>>>
>>>;-)
>>
>>
>>I've had it with all those lisp posts lately ;-)
>>
>>There were functional and non-functional programming languages (the 
>>first being *much* simpler to implement). There is a *reason* people 
>>chose C over lisp. It's not that we were all blind and didn't see the 
>>amazingness of lisp. Procedural languages are simply better, and I'm not 
>>replying to this flamewar.
> 
> 
> Then neither am I.
> 
> Yes, there's a reason people choose C over Lisp, just as there is a 
> reason that people choose Windows over OS X, the Ford Taurus over the 
> Lexus SC400, and Perl over Python.  But I'm pretty sure joy isn't that 
> reason.  If joy is part of your quality metric for a programming 
> language then Lisp is worth a look.  (And it costs a lot less than a 
> Lexus.)

Well, in the Computer Programming for Everyone stakes I'm pretty sure 
that LISP and its derivatives don't stand a chance, simply because of 
the rebarbative syntax one must use to express even relatively simple 
algorithms and data structures.

While the language has a lot going for it in the hands of an experienced 
and determined LISPer, the average programmer just isn't going to "get it".

regards
  Steve
-- 
Steve Holden               http://www.holdenweb.com/
Python Web Programming  http://pydish.holdenweb.com/
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