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Many of these features are actually quite common in other languages. For example, C# has lambdas, functions as first class objects, closures, dynamic programmin
by DrJokepu 17y ago
Many of these features are actually quite common in other languages. For example, C# has lambdas, functions as first class objects, closures, dynamic programming, null coalescence etc. The real power of Lisp in my opinion is not the existence of these features but the way they perfectly fit into the S-Expression syntax.
- abstractbill 17y agoRight. Mainstream languages have been gradually evolving towards Lisp but until they adopt a simple uniform syntax they won't get real macros, which I think is the biggest difference between Lisp and other languages today.
- DrJokepu 17y agoI believe that appreciating Lisp's minimalistic, tree-like syntax requires a very mathematical way of thinking. Many (perhaps most) developers have a different way of thinking. There's nothing wrong with that, diversity is a good thing but because of that, I don't think that the S-Expression syntax will ever become "mainstream".
- abstractbill 17y agoI think I agree... I'm undecided though. I actually find JSON to be a positive development, and potentially a step in this direction (i.e. the fact that people now use javascript literal data syntax as a way of serializing general data, and the syntax has been written down somewhere quite carefully and is not too verbose or ugly - at least compared to something like xml). Who knows how far the mainstream will take this though...
- lispm 17y agoIt is already. XML is full of prefix, nested syntax.
- abstractbill 17y agoYes, but nobody would seriously write a programming language that used XML for its syntax.
- lispm 17y agoSo you say existing XML-based programming languages were 'written' by non-serious people? 'Water': <defmethod test_true source=required="ek_string"> <try <if> source.<execute_string/>.<not/> <concat "Busted: "source/>.<print/> else “OK” </if> > <concat "Errored: " source/>.<print/> </try> </defmethod> See also XSLT, XL, RuleML, ...
- abstractbill 17y agoSo you say existing XML-based programming languages were 'written' by non-serious people? Whether or not the people who wrote (sorry, I guess "designed" is the more appropriate word) these languages were serious, I do believe they are a dead-end.
- dmoney 17y agoI think a better word would be "outfix".