How explain why Python is easier/nicer than Lisp which has a simpler grammar/syntax?

[Richard Damon]

On 8/7/20 6:55 PM, Marco Sulla wrote:
> On Sat, 8 Aug 2020 at 00:28, Richard Damon <Richard at damon-family.org> wrote:
>> The really interesting part is that since Lisp programs manipulate lists
>> as data, and the program is just a list, Lisp programs have the
>> theoretical ability to edit themselves (assuming the implementation give
>> access to the list of the program to the program).
> This is a bit hard to understand for me.
> I know that code can be translated to an AST, that is a tree. It's
> quite difficult for me to imagine the code organized as a list. Do you
> have some links about it?

Lisp is built on Nested list, Lists were some (many) of the nodes are
other list. (Somewhat like you might build the AST in Python)

Generally the first element of the list defines what the list is, type
of statement or operation, and the rest are the parameters for it. Many
of these will be lists for sub expressions or dependent statements.

Perhaps the best option would be to search for the Lisp Language, and
see how you write programs.

>
> On Sat, 8 Aug 2020 at 00:28, Richard Damon <Richard at damon-family.org> wrote:
>> One advantage of blurring the line between statements and expressions is
>> power, putting assignments in the middle of an expression, can allow
>> code to be more compact.
> I agree with you. I experimented a little with CPython code and I saw
> assignments inside if statements. The code without them was less
> readable. I also found this example:
> https://stackoverflow.com/a/151920/1763602
> My only fear is the abuse. How many people really use the walrus
> operator to render the code more readable? My fear is that the
> majority of programmer will use it for laziness and because it's
> "cool" ^^

There is always the danger, that as you give the programmer more
expressive power, they can use it for 'good', or they can miss-use it to
make code harder to read. The question comes how much are you willing to
trust the programmer, or are you just going to give them enough rope so
that can do themselves in. 

-- 
Richard Damon