merits of Lisp vs Python

[philip.armitage at gmail.com]

Paul Rubin wrote:
> André Thieme <address.good.until.2006.dec.22 at justmail.de> writes:

> which isn't purely a matter of token count.  And if (+ 2 3) were
> really as easy to read as 2+3, mathematics would have been written
> that way all along.

Maybe I am a "mutant" as Ken suggests but while mathematicians may
think in terms of infix, programmers have got very used to:

function (arg, arg, ...)

So when I see (+ 2 3) I just think function 'add' with arguments 2 and
3. Yep, I've moved the parens and removed the comma but that just makes
it even clearer. Then bring in more statement and you either have to
remember precedence rules (I can never remember those) or add some
parenthesis (oops!).

This may sounds paper thin to some people but if you appreciate
consistency then you'll appreciate the syntax.

Phil