merits of Lisp vs Python

[JShrager at gmail.com]

> Python has to rely more on using the right algorithm...

This sound familiar: "Macros are dangerous!" "Compilers make you lazy."
"Worse is better!" (I have a Russian friend -- a mathematician -- who
jokes that the reason the Soviets were great mathematicians because
their computers sucked, so they had to use extensive formal
manipulation to get things to run fast enough to get anything done. He
was joking (I think); you don't appear to be.)

> Talk to these guys:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PyPy they have an interesting take on

No, actually maybe you should talk to them since you seem to think that
making Python run fast is dangerous, or at least unnecessary.

> Python has this unsung module called doctest that neatly shows some of
> the strengths of python:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctest

Now I'm *certain* that you're just pulling my leg: You guys document
all your random ten-line hacks in Wikipedia?!?! What a brilliant idea!
Hey, you even have dead vaporware projects like uuu documented in
Wikipedia! Cool! (Actually, I don't know that doctest is ten lines in
Python, but it'd be about ten lines of Lisp, if that, so I'm just
guessing here.)