Subject: Re: Programming Style
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net>
Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 02:30:49 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3206226647778055@naggum.net>

* "Roy Mash" <Roy_Mash@ci.sf.ca.us>
> One goal of programming style is to facilitate code changes. In this regard,
> the C style weds function and form in a way the Lisp style does not.

  The C style was designed to work well with ed, the standard editor, on a
  teletypewriter.  The style of Fortran was similarly inspired by punched
  cards.  The style of Lisp was inspired by full-screen editors with
  commands to move around in expressions: up, down, forward, backward.
  This is just one of the large number of benefits of having a delimiter at
  both the beginning and end of an expression, at all levels of expression.
  Coming from the C language family, this will take a while to register as
  a feature, but once you understand, you will regard the idea that the
  line is the most natural division as incredibly backward, almost
  retarded.  Despite being much older than C, the Lisp family did a large
  number of things right that the C/Unix folks still have not grasped the
  significance of.  Or maybe it is _because_ it is so much older.   ///