> But having one main syntactic and data structure- the list- is what makes LISP annoying too. You have to translate other syntax and data structures into lists

> But having one main syntactic and data structure- the list- is what makes LISP annoying too. You have to translate other syntax and data structures into lists. This is what macros (especially reader macros) are for. Just translate it once and then save the transformation as a macro and write it the natural way for you. Of course, that's a lot easier to do/maintain when it is just you working on the project.