Do not hastily judge sticking to primitives as bad. Here's a relevant SICP quote: "The simple structure and natural applicability of lists are reflected in fun

Do not hastily judge sticking to primitives as bad. Here's a relevant SICP quote: "The simple structure and natural applicability of lists are reflected in functions that are amazingly nonidiosyncratic. In Pascal the plethora of declarable data structures induces a specialization within functions that inhibits and penalizes casual cooperation. It is better to have 100 functions operate on one data structure than to have 10 functions operate on 10 data structures."