> Its ability to self-modify creates programs that are almost impossible for people other than the author to understand. That's simply not true. I think the o

> Its ability to self-modify creates programs that are almost impossible for people other than the author to understand. That's simply not true. I think the only reason that Lisp is unpopular is the syntax, which is unfortunate because it's the syntax which is the source of all its power. As for why the syntax itself is so unpopular, sometimes I wonder if irregular syntax really does help comprehension (i.e., that having {}*&^%$#@! helps as a kind of visual shorthand), but most of the time I think it's really just unfamiliarity.