Subject: Re: (describe-differences "Scheme" "Common Lisp") From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no> Date: 1998/09/18 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3115101391715090@naggum.no> * David Steuber | When I asked about the differences between Scheme and Common Lisp in my | original post, I was asking just that. I certainly wasn't expecting a | debate as to which language is the best at everything. * Jussi Piitulainen <jpiitula@ling.helsinki.fi> | The original question was, if I still remember, just as you say. It's | a pity that such an interesting question produces such hostility, but | that is indeed quite predictable here. imagine a question "what is the difference between capitalism and communism?" posted to newsgroups dedicated to each political theory. that would be known as a "troll" in USENET jargon, regardless of the honest intents of the requestor to learn about the differences. USENET is simply not a forum suitable for such inquiries. however, asking for the history, evolution, goals, and purposes of each language or political theory in separate messages to each group would shed light that an intelligent reader could use to produce a list of useful differences for his _own_ needs. requesting such a list from others can _only_ produce different lists from each contributor, not one of them being right for anybody else if the list is indeed useful for a person's choice of language, and no agreement is possible. #:Erik -- ATTENTION, all abducting aliens! you DON'T need to RETURN them!