merits of Lisp vs Python

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sat, 09 Dec 2006 17:01:15 -0500, Ken Tilton wrote:

>> How's this a good thing? I don't need a Python environment to grok
>> Python code.
> 
> How would that be a bad thing? Do you do a lot of programming without a 
> Python environment. But I love the wall of flak you are throwing up. :)

Actually, yes, sometimes it is useful to print code out and read it on the
train, or in the bath, without the advantage of syntax highlighting,
pretty-printing, parenthesis-balancing or code folding. Not necessarily as
pleasant as having all those things, but it is nice that working Python
code is, by definition, already formatted correctly for pretty printing.
Even if you're stuck on some god-forsaken Windows PC with just Notepad,
you can still read Python code.

Now, *writing* Python code with Notepad isn't as easy, but it is still
doable. How about Lisp code?

That's not a criticism of Lisp exactly, but a reminder to think about not
just what problem you're trying to solve, but what resources you will have
to solve it. If you *know* that you're going to need to edit code by
ssh-ing across an high-latency connection to a machine without Emacs, then
Lisp will probably not be the best solution.

The day has not yet arrived that nobody ever needs to edit code in a
plain, vanilla text editor.



-- 
Steven.