That's basically the approach used by web browsers, too. (JavaScript even has a Symbol type now!) This architecture has long been an under-appreciated aspect

That's basically the approach used by web browsers, too. (JavaScript even has a Symbol type now!) This architecture has long been an under-appreciated aspect of the Lisp way. On the internet, I often hear programmers talk about how great the Unix philosophy is, but hardly anybody follows it any more. They may not be using s-exps but everybody is building their programs around the Lisp philosophy. Pulling open a live inspector, digging into rich data structures, and running interpreted ad-hoc code? That's not exactly Unix you're practicing.