Lisp development with macros faster than Python development?..

[François Pinard]

[Raymond Hettinger]

> seberino at spawar.navy.mil wrote:
>
> > It got me curious if Lisp is inherently faster to develop complex
> > apps in.

> With Lisp or Forth, a master programmer has unlimited power and
> expressiveness.  With Python, even a regular guy can reach for the
> stars.

A few years ago, I much hesitated between Scheme and Python as my next
day-to-day programming language.

My feeling at the time was that Scheme is a very fast language to write
into, and in which one can implement new concepts cleanly and compactly.
Maybe Python is a bit slower to write, but this is compensated by the
fact Python is more legible when it comes to later maintenance, or when
many people have to share work on a big set of sources.

There is some heaviness and complexity in Python internals, Scheme are
purer and simpler by comparison.  On its bright side, Python has a nice
and comprehensive library, and an interesting community of users.  These
probably make most of the difference.

-- 
François Pinard   http://pinard.progiciels-bpi.ca