I think in terms of adoption it might be much more important than it is made out to be. A lot of potential new users are people who have many other choices and

I think in terms of adoption it might be much more important than it is made out to be. A lot of potential new users are people who have many other choices and very little free time. If the language is such that they cannot immediately recognise a fundamental pattern like a function call then they are going to stop reading. Even if they keep reading for a couple of days and still find it hard to relax and read fluently then by that time they are probably going to give up because they simply don't have the time. So s-expressions are what gives the language part of its power and lisp should not change but don't be surprised if it has less users because 80% of the usual first time users of a language get discarded at the start. It is very hard to make it back up from there. I think the reason people find it hard to adjust to the new pattern is that they have been trained all their lives to recognise the pattern where the name of something is distinct and outside of the thing itself. In mathematics obviously people have been used to expressing functions using f(x) since an early age (10?). But physically also. Think of these things: - The name of a shop or a village tends to be on a sign on the outside. - The name of a book is on the cover. - The title of a folder is on the outside. - The name of an OS file etc. Naming things is very important. Its the basis of a lot of communication, understanding and abstraction and people are used to the name of something being fundamentally distinct and outside of the thing itself.