> In a Lisp, though, everything looks more-or-less homogeneous. ... you can't quickly tell whether some thing you're looking at is data, a function, or a macro,

> In a Lisp, though, everything looks more-or-less homogeneous. ... you can't quickly tell whether some thing you're looking at is data, a function, or a macro, or what. It all blends together into a disorienting fog. I wonder if this is a feature of Lisp, instead of a defect. When you call up a variable or a function or macro, the intent is to return some kind of result. If variables, functions, and macros all look alike, and then maybe it can be weaved more seamlessly into the code to create its own style. You can also think of a variable, as a function call with zero parameters.