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- From: bjst@sth.frontec.se (Bjorn Stenberg)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
- Subject: Re: LISP - USE IT.
- Message-ID: <1992Nov10.134559.1133@sth.frontec.se>
- Date: 10 Nov 92 13:45:59 GMT
- References: <1992Nov5.014803.1@eagle.wesleyan.edu> <mwm.2jht@contessa.palo-alto.ca.us> <1992Nov6.220216.2313@sth.frontec.se> <mwm.2k43@contessa.palo-alto.ca.us> <1992Nov9.132635.2620@sth.frontec.se> <mwm.2kwj@contessa.palo-alto.ca.us>
- Organization: IDK/Frontec - System Design Group
- Lines: 49
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pop.sth.frontec.se
-
- mwm@contessa.palo-alto.ca.us (Mike Meyer) writes:
- > Of course, it's no harder to write a LISP parser that reads in
- > algebraic notation than it is for any other language. It's been done a
- > number of time, and in those LISPs for which it was done (ITS LISP and
- > InterLISP) it it was a generally available feature.
- [...]
- > I don't think anyone wanted that ability badly enough to perpetrate it
- > on new implementations.
-
- Of course. No one wants a new style of an old language. I'm not saying you
- should alter LISP to be something else. I'm saying you should dump LISP
- completely.
-
- > > There are lots of other powerful and versatile languages which aren't
- > > TORTURE to the user.
- > Name one. The requirements are:
- [ desciption of LISP deleted]
-
- Please don't be silly, that doesn't help the discussion.
- Why should I want a new LISP? I said I wanted a powerful script language with
- straight, simple syntax which is easy for users (without LISP experience) to
- learn. LISP is not such a language.
-
- What languages to Amiga users come across these days?
- Fortran? Cobol? LISP?
-
- Nope. It's 'C', ARexx, Basic, Pascal and some others.
- Even if every Amiga user can't program, most have seen and can understand
- some of the basics of these languages.
- A script language for the Amiga should have lots of things users recognize
- from the languages they normally see. If it's hard to learn, people won't
- use it at all and in that case why did I even bother to implement a script
- language?
-
- > Loosing any one of those is TORTURE.
-
- Yes, if you want LISP. I don't. :-)
-
- > Nope - I believe in using the language that is appropriate for the
- > task. LISP is appropriate for a large number of tasks.
-
- Very few languages are directly inappropriate, but there's always a few which
- are more appropriate than others.
-
- -- Bjorn
-
- /// Bjorn Stenberg, Stockholm, Sweden bjst@sth.frontec.se
- /// main() { printf(&unix["\021%six\012\0"],(unix)["have"]+"fun"-0x60);}
- \\\ /// "- Your documentation no longer confuses me, old version!"
-