4 ms·

I know almost nothing about lisp, but what comes to mind is car, cdr which aren't exactly the most descriptive keywords of programming languages I have seen. (

I know almost nothing about lisp, but what comes to mind is car, cdr which aren't exactly the most descriptive keywords of programming languages I have seen. (I think they are replaced in modern versions but my point still stands as I remember the old ones, not the new)

kruhft 11y ago
Yes, sometimes 'car' and 'cdr' are replaced with 'first' and 'rest' and are some of the first things you cover when learning the language, so I don't think the names would really be hindering adoption for those that try to learn the language. The benefits of car and cdr are that they can be composed: (caadr l) instead of (car (car (cdr l))) for example.
- AnimalMuppet 11y ago
  Well, if you use "first" and "rest", then (caadr l) could become (firrest l) or something like that...
  - bhrgunatha 11y ago
    I like Racket's second, third, fourth,... etc. [1] I don't think there's an equivalent to cddadr for example, but at that level of deconstruction you're better off abstracting the data structure (maybe a struct [2]) or using some other mechanism like match [3] [1] http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/pairs.html?q=second#%28def._%28%28lib._racket%2Flist..rkt%29._second%29%29 http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/pairs.html?q=second#%2... [2] http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/define-struct.html?q=struct#%28form._%28%28lib._racket%2Fprivate%2Fbase..rkt%29._struct%29%29 http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/define-struct.html?q=s... [3] http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/match.html?q=match#%28form._%28%28lib._racket%2Fmatch..rkt%29._match%29%29 http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/match.html?q=match#%28...
defgeneric 11y ago
Yes but can you do caaaaaar or caaddaar or cdaar, etc. with head and tail? In 5 characters with cadar you can express walking along a tree structure to get exactly the node you want.
- davexunit 11y ago
  car, cdr, cadr, and friends are discouraged in some Lisp communities where pattern matchers are available.
- AnimalMuppet 11y ago
  Sure. caaaaaar -> heaaaaaad. cadar -> heaiad. It's one more character, but if you really want to express yourself that way, there's no reason you couldn't...

kruhft 11y ago

Yes, sometimes 'car' and 'cdr' are replaced with 'first' and 'rest' and are some of the first things you cover when learning the language, so I don't think the names would really be hindering adoption for those that try to learn the language. The benefits of car and cdr are that they can be composed: (caadr l) instead of (car (car (cdr l))) for example.

AnimalMuppet 11y ago
Well, if you use "first" and "rest", then (caadr l) could become (firrest l) or something like that...
- bhrgunatha 11y ago
  I like Racket's second, third, fourth,... etc. [1] I don't think there's an equivalent to cddadr for example, but at that level of deconstruction you're better off abstracting the data structure (maybe a struct [2]) or using some other mechanism like match [3] [1] http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/pairs.html?q=second#%28def._%28%28lib._racket%2Flist..rkt%29._second%29%29 http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/pairs.html?q=second#%2... [2] http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/define-struct.html?q=struct#%28form._%28%28lib._racket%2Fprivate%2Fbase..rkt%29._struct%29%29 http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/define-struct.html?q=s... [3] http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/match.html?q=match#%28form._%28%28lib._racket%2Fmatch..rkt%29._match%29%29 http://docs.racket-lang.org/reference/match.html?q=match#%28...

defgeneric 11y ago

Yes but can you do caaaaaar or caaddaar or cdaar, etc. with head and tail? In 5 characters with cadar you can express walking along a tree structure to get exactly the node you want.

davexunit 11y ago
car, cdr, cadr, and friends are discouraged in some Lisp communities where pattern matchers are available.
AnimalMuppet 11y ago
Sure. caaaaaar -> heaaaaaad. cadar -> heaiad. It's one more character, but if you really want to express yourself that way, there's no reason you couldn't...