3 ms·

As python is beautiful, lisp is parenthesis-y. Has anyone thought about a Lisp dialect that uses white space, like Python, to get rid of the ()?

icey 18y ago
Some of us prefer the parens.
dimitar 18y ago
Why don't you make your editor to paint them white and indent them?
rincewind 18y ago
Yes. http://tinyurl.com/ct3xyb http://tinyurl.com/ct3xyb http://www.dwheeler.com/readable/ http://www.dwheeler.com/readable/
nihilocrat 18y ago
Make an editor which will randomly color-code each set of parentheses such that they or their background is in a set of colors which don't appear as other keywords (like function defs or strings or whatever) so as not to add confusion. You now have a way of more easily seeing every matching pair of parens without having to hover over each one. However, now you have to deal with a strange assortment of colors on your screen. Oh wait, you can just use a gradient of colors instead of random ones, with the more-nested paren pairs having colors farther in on the gradient. Silly me.
- riobard 18y ago
  "Oh wait, you can just use a gradient of colors instead of random ones, with the more-nested paren pairs having colors farther in on the gradient. Silly me." Good idea! Is it doable in VIM now? :|
newt0311 18y ago
See I-expressions.
ramchip 18y ago
Parens let you have multiple expressions in one line, which indentation alone could not really express (except perhaps in a Haskell-like with currying, . and $ operators, etc). For example, I don't see how (map (fn [x] (+ x 2)) (concat (take 5 my-series) etc...)) could be broken down with indentation alone without taking quite a few extra lines.
paulgb 18y ago
Dylan removes the parenthesis, but it doesn't go as far as using whitespace. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_programming_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_programming_language
jcl 18y ago
"Logo is a computer programming language used for functional programming. It is an easier-to-read adaptation and dialect of the Lisp language; some have called it Lisp without the parentheses." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_programming_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_programming_language

icey 18y ago

Some of us prefer the parens.

dimitar 18y ago

Why don't you make your editor to paint them white and indent them?

rincewind 18y ago

Yes. http://tinyurl.com/ct3xyb http://tinyurl.com/ct3xyb http://www.dwheeler.com/readable/ http://www.dwheeler.com/readable/

nihilocrat 18y ago

Make an editor which will randomly color-code each set of parentheses such that they or their background is in a set of colors which don't appear as other keywords (like function defs or strings or whatever) so as not to add confusion. You now have a way of more easily seeing every matching pair of parens without having to hover over each one. However, now you have to deal with a strange assortment of colors on your screen. Oh wait, you can just use a gradient of colors instead of random ones, with the more-nested paren pairs having colors farther in on the gradient. Silly me.

riobard 18y ago
"Oh wait, you can just use a gradient of colors instead of random ones, with the more-nested paren pairs having colors farther in on the gradient. Silly me." Good idea! Is it doable in VIM now? :|

newt0311 18y ago

See I-expressions.

ramchip 18y ago

Parens let you have multiple expressions in one line, which indentation alone could not really express (except perhaps in a Haskell-like with currying, . and $ operators, etc). For example, I don't see how (map (fn [x] (+ x 2)) (concat (take 5 my-series) etc...)) could be broken down with indentation alone without taking quite a few extra lines.

paulgb 18y ago

Dylan removes the parenthesis, but it doesn't go as far as using whitespace. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_programming_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_programming_language

jcl 18y ago

"Logo is a computer programming language used for functional programming. It is an easier-to-read adaptation and dialect of the Lisp language; some have called it Lisp without the parentheses." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_programming_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_programming_language