Subject: Re: merits of Lisp vs Python
From: rpw3@rpw3.org (Rob Warnock)
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 03:24:05 -0600
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.python
Message-ID: <MrudnVohJbMoW-LYnZ2dnUVZ_sSmnZ2d@speakeasy.net>
Raffael Cavallaro <raffaelcavallaro@pas-d'espam-s'il-vous-plait-mac.com>:
+---------------
| "George Sakkis" <george.sakkis@gmail.com> said:
| > If you mistakenly select an extra parenthesis or omit one, it's
| > the same thing.
| 
| Because you can't mistakenly select an extra paren or omit one in a 
| lisp-aware editor. Whether its a commercial lisp IDE or emacs, you 
| don't manually select s-expressions. You put your cursor/point at one 
| paren and you tell the editor - with a keystroke or a mouse click - to 
| find the matching paren and select everything contained between the two.
+---------------

And for any of you who are rejecting this because you don't want to
learn or use Emacs, Raffael's point is even true in the Vi family of
editors ("nvi" & "vim", at least). The "y%" command yanks (copies)
everything through the matching paren into the anonymous buffer;
"d%" deletes likewise [and saves in the anonymous buffer]; "p" (or "P")
pastes after (or before) the current location. All can be prefixed
with a buffer ("Q-register") name for more flexibility.

Lisp's parens really *do* make editing ever so much easier!


-Rob

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