Subject: Re: Oh, and a little history From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net> Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 03:30:31 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3224892641789838@naggum.net> * Thomas Bushnell, BSG | Since Scheme (1975) predates Common Lisp (1984), it is incorrect to | say that Scheme somehow "split off" from Common Lisp. Who has argued this? The curse of stupidity is that it is so easy to argue against something stupid that somebody else does in fact _not_ mean. Many idiots on the Net spend all their time arguing about what others have _not_ said, forcing those they portray as morons by virtue of arguing against moronic drivel they impute to them. In general, these are the trolls in any forum, but it happens to people who fail to get a following for their views, too, but losing one's objectivity and ability to read what other people are _actually_ writing is flat out extremely annoying. It is a fact that the Scheme community has split off from the community that went on to produce Common Lisp. Stupid non-arguments like which language predates which is fantastically counter-productive, because it is not an argument against anything anybody has actually said, but only serves to portray those who have said something else as stupid and to hold opinions that are so easily refutable that one has to assume that every thinking person on the planet does _not_ hold them. Expect other people to be more intelligent than you and know more than you do -- it leads to an ability to _listen_ that far surpasses those who think they are the smartest and most knowledgable person on planet earth, in general or in some particular respect. If you assume that others are idiots and argue against moronic arguments they have not actually made, you only lower the level of the communication to that level. Those who argue so fervently for Scheme's superiority, for instance, usually impute all sorts of weird intents and purposes to those who created Common Lisp, and argue against "historical baggage" and whatnot, not even _realizing_ that a new, improved language is a package away. /// -- In a fight against something, the fight has value, victory has none. In a fight for something, the fight is a loss, victory merely relief.