There's an emacs mode for that. (http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UnParenMode http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UnParenMode) It hides the parentheses, and emacs by

There's an emacs mode for that. (http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UnParenMode http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UnParenMode) It hides the parentheses, and emacs by default will indent your lisp correctly. Just like the real thing (except you can't edit while in UnParenMode...minor issue). I do enjoy the irony in commenting with "can we get rid of the paretheses" on a post explaining why the parentheses are not important. When you truly understand lisp, you will no longer see the parentheses. They aren't real.