3 ms·

alists and plists are a much closer lisp analog to python's dicts though

• deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
• trealira 3y ago
  That's fair. Dictionary literals aren't really any more concise than a-lists. A-list: (("the" . 50) ("be" . 25)) Dictionary literal: {"the": 50, "be": 25 }
• RodgerTheGreat 3y ago
  Using both a-lists and p-lists as mere structural conventions- and thus needing to convert back and forth or write multiple versions of routines to handle each- is a good example of how sexprs provide a superficial veneer of simplicity while inviting cancerous complexity in practice. The Clojure approach of recognizing associative structures as a fundamental building-block and giving them specialized syntax: {:the 50 :be 25} Is a clear-cut improvement.
  • NikkiA 3y ago
    At the risk of waking Naggum's ghost, plists are performant enough to use everywhere, and an alist can be converted to a plist merely by flattening it. I do covet the way clojure's associations are callable as a lookup method, though.