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So the word LISP does not appear in the entire introduction. If you’re introducing a language thats a LISP, that’s really the kind of thing you’ve got to state

So the word LISP does not appear in the entire introduction. If you’re introducing a language thats a LISP, that’s really the kind of thing you’ve got to state up front. You can define the term for those unfamiliar, and you don’t have to dwell on it, but people who are turned off by LISPs will feel a little swindled if they get 3 book-pages in before finding out. And people who specifically like LISPs might pass this over without realizing what it is and miss out.

superdisk 4y ago
He pokes fun at this type of comment in chapter 1.
fallat 4y ago
I really argue the opposite: it's really something you dont. A ton of people see LISP and get scared away.
- tgv 4y ago
  The first (defun will take care of it if you don't. If they stay, and can stomach ))))), I doubt they'd be scared off by mentioning LISP. Hell, you can even mention it after the first examples.
giraffe_lady 4y ago
If you call it a lisp you summon the lisp lawyer demons who will litigate your namespace & symbol semantics and start a big beef among themselves about what a lisp is and what makes lisp lisp and how much this is lisp and whether lisp even exists it's just a whole huge headache. It uses parens and prefix notation. Not every language that uses parens and prefix notation is a lisp, I guess, maybe, I don't care. But not wanting to have that argument is an excellent reason to never make this assertion about a language imo.
wodenokoto 4y ago
Chapter 1 deals with your frustration: > And now you’re just wondering when I’m going to use the L-word. You want me to use it so you can go write a long screed about how Janet isn’t a real one. But I’m not going to give you the satisfaction. I’m not going to use that word until Chapter Fourteen.
- weatherlight 4y ago
  this guy is a hero, i love it.
- philsnow 4y ago
  also > Note that Janet’s `nil` is not the empty list. If you don’t understand why I’m calling that out here, you can safely ignore this paragraph. beautiful, succinct, and not a jab at lisp-y languages
YuukiRey 4y ago
So someone might be 3 pages in and really like what they're seeing but upon hearing the word LISP they turn around and decide they suddenly dislike it? Considering that people can't even really decide on what constitutes LISP (Is Clojure a LISP?) I don't think there's any merit in this kind of resource to mention a term that's more likely to give people a false impression of what this really is or isn't.

superdisk 4y ago

He pokes fun at this type of comment in chapter 1.

fallat 4y ago

I really argue the opposite: it's really something you dont. A ton of people see LISP and get scared away.

tgv 4y ago
The first (defun will take care of it if you don't. If they stay, and can stomach ))))), I doubt they'd be scared off by mentioning LISP. Hell, you can even mention it after the first examples.

giraffe_lady 4y ago

If you call it a lisp you summon the lisp lawyer demons who will litigate your namespace & symbol semantics and start a big beef among themselves about what a lisp is and what makes lisp lisp and how much this is lisp and whether lisp even exists it's just a whole huge headache. It uses parens and prefix notation. Not every language that uses parens and prefix notation is a lisp, I guess, maybe, I don't care. But not wanting to have that argument is an excellent reason to never make this assertion about a language imo.

wodenokoto 4y ago

Chapter 1 deals with your frustration: > And now you’re just wondering when I’m going to use the L-word. You want me to use it so you can go write a long screed about how Janet isn’t a real one. But I’m not going to give you the satisfaction. I’m not going to use that word until Chapter Fourteen.

weatherlight 4y ago
this guy is a hero, i love it.
philsnow 4y ago
also > Note that Janet’s `nil` is not the empty list. If you don’t understand why I’m calling that out here, you can safely ignore this paragraph. beautiful, succinct, and not a jab at lisp-y languages

YuukiRey 4y ago

So someone might be 3 pages in and really like what they're seeing but upon hearing the word LISP they turn around and decide they suddenly dislike it? Considering that people can't even really decide on what constitutes LISP (Is Clojure a LISP?) I don't think there's any merit in this kind of resource to mention a term that's more likely to give people a false impression of what this really is or isn't.