3 ms·

This is the main reason Lisp has just never grown on me. I'm certain — and other responses demonstrate — that the readability can certainly be improved here. Ye

This is the main reason Lisp has just never grown on me. I'm certain — and other responses demonstrate — that the readability can certainly be improved here. Yes, a programming language needs nothing more than parens. But dedicating a tastefully chosen set of sigils seems to make a lot of difference, in my opinion.

kbp 9y ago
I understand this point of view if most of your programs are just doing arithmetic, but once you start using functions and procedures the differences are pretty minimal.
kazinator 9y ago
In the dialect called TXR Lisp, I have introduced precisely that: some tastefully chosen syntactic sugars which do not disturb the structure of the surrounding Lisp. I believe I made a wise choice by not targetting arithmetic. My syntactic inventions target areas like working with arrays, string processing, OOP and higher order functions. Small taste: 1> (let ((x "abc") (y "def")) (swap [x 0..2] [y 2..:]) (list x y)) ("fc" "deab") 2> (mapcar (ret `@1-@2`) "abc" "def") ("a-d" "b-e" "c-f") 3> '#"lorem ipsum dolor sit" ("lorem" "ipsum" "dolor" "sit") 4> (let ((a "dolor")) ^#`lorem ipsum @,a sit`) #`lorem ipsum dolor sit` 5> (eval *4) ("lorem" "ipsum" "dolor" "sit") 7> (defstruct (point x y) nil (x 0) (y 0)) #<struct-type point> 8> (new point) #S(point x 0 y 0) 9> (new (point 1 2)) #S(point x 1 y 2) 10> (new point x 2 y 3) #S(point x 2 y 3) 11> (let ((a (new (point 10 20)))) ^(,a.x ,a.y)) (10 20) 12> (let ((a (new (point 10 20)))) `<@{a.x}, @{a.y}>`) "<10, 20>" 13> (defmeth point distance (p) (sqrt (+ (* p.x p.x) (* p.y p.y)))) (meth point distance) 14> (new (point 3 4)).(distance) 5.0 15> (defmeth point distance-to (p q) (let ((r (new (point (- q.x p.x) (- q.y p.y))))) r.(distance))) (meth point distance-to) 16> (new (point 3 4)).(distance-to (new (point 20 30))) 31.0644491340181 19> (let ((pts (build (dotimes (i 10) (add (new (point (rand 10) (rand 10)))))))) pts) (#S(point x 5 y 6) #S(point x 1 y 1) #S(point x 1 y 3) #S(point x 5 y 7) #S(point x 2 y 8) #S(point x 7 y 3) #S(point x 1 y 1) #S(point x 2 y 4) #S(point x 5 y 6) #S(point x 5 y 3)) 20> (mapcar .(distance) *19) (7.81024967590665 1.4142135623731 3.16227766016838 8.60232526704263 8.24621125123532 7.61577310586391 1.4142135623731 4.47213595499958 7.81024967590665 5.8309518948453) 21> (mapcar (ret @1.(distance-to @2)) *19 (cdr *19)) (6.40312423743285 2.0 5.65685424949238 3.16227766016838 7.07106781186548 6.32455532033676 3.16227766016838 3.60555127546399 3.0)

kbp 9y ago

I understand this point of view if most of your programs are just doing arithmetic, but once you start using functions and procedures the differences are pretty minimal.

kazinator 9y ago

In the dialect called TXR Lisp, I have introduced precisely that: some tastefully chosen syntactic sugars which do not disturb the structure of the surrounding Lisp. I believe I made a wise choice by not targetting arithmetic. My syntactic inventions target areas like working with arrays, string processing, OOP and higher order functions. Small taste: 1> (let ((x "abc") (y "def")) (swap [x 0..2] [y 2..:]) (list x y)) ("fc" "deab") 2> (mapcar (ret `@1-@2`) "abc" "def") ("a-d" "b-e" "c-f") 3> '#"lorem ipsum dolor sit" ("lorem" "ipsum" "dolor" "sit") 4> (let ((a "dolor")) ^#`lorem ipsum @,a sit`) #`lorem ipsum dolor sit` 5> (eval *4) ("lorem" "ipsum" "dolor" "sit") 7> (defstruct (point x y) nil (x 0) (y 0)) #<struct-type point> 8> (new point) #S(point x 0 y 0) 9> (new (point 1 2)) #S(point x 1 y 2) 10> (new point x 2 y 3) #S(point x 2 y 3) 11> (let ((a (new (point 10 20)))) ^(,a.x ,a.y)) (10 20) 12> (let ((a (new (point 10 20)))) `<@{a.x}, @{a.y}>`) "<10, 20>" 13> (defmeth point distance (p) (sqrt (+ (* p.x p.x) (* p.y p.y)))) (meth point distance) 14> (new (point 3 4)).(distance) 5.0 15> (defmeth point distance-to (p q) (let ((r (new (point (- q.x p.x) (- q.y p.y))))) r.(distance))) (meth point distance-to) 16> (new (point 3 4)).(distance-to (new (point 20 30))) 31.0644491340181 19> (let ((pts (build (dotimes (i 10) (add (new (point (rand 10) (rand 10)))))))) pts) (#S(point x 5 y 6) #S(point x 1 y 1) #S(point x 1 y 3) #S(point x 5 y 7) #S(point x 2 y 8) #S(point x 7 y 3) #S(point x 1 y 1) #S(point x 2 y 4) #S(point x 5 y 6) #S(point x 5 y 3)) 20> (mapcar .(distance) *19) (7.81024967590665 1.4142135623731 3.16227766016838 8.60232526704263 8.24621125123532 7.61577310586391 1.4142135623731 4.47213595499958 7.81024967590665 5.8309518948453) 21> (mapcar (ret @1.(distance-to @2)) *19 (cdr *19)) (6.40312423743285 2.0 5.65685424949238 3.16227766016838 7.07106781186548 6.32455532033676 3.16227766016838 3.60555127546399 3.0)