* * * * *
One more time into the breech with a speech impediment
I think I finally figured out why I don't like Lisp.
It has nothing to do with its (non-)syntax and the proliferation of
parentheses. Sure, it can be annoying to the non-initiate, but one can get
used to it. The first language I learned was Microsoft BASIC (Beginners All-
purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) for the Tandy Color Computer [1], and if I
can learn to not only program, but like something that looks like this:
-----[ BASIC ]-----
0 'CODE TAKEN FROM THE RAINBOW M
AGAZINE [2], VOL. IV, NO. 1 (AUGUST
1984), PAGE 78-'SOPWITH COCO' FL
IES AGAIN!
1700 X=30+SIN(JB)*28:Y=160-COS(J
B)*28:CIRCLE(FA,FB),1,0:CIRCLE(X
,Y),1,1:FA=X:FB=Y:RETURN
1710 IF D7=10 AND N(S)=0 THEN RE
TURN ELSE LINE(30,160)-(SX,SY),P
RESET:DRAW"C0;BM83,170;XA$(D7);B
M-10,0;XA$(D6);BM-7,0;XA$(D5);C1
;XA$(10);BM+7,0;XA$(10);BM+10,0;
XA$(10);":LINE(128,40)-(IX,IY),P
RESET:CIRCLE(162,92+GX),1,0,.1:D
7=10:D6=10:D5=10
1712 IF AZ<AL THEN AZ=0
1730 SCREEN1,0:RETURN
1740 F=INT(RB(S)*.5729):G=INT(RB
(S)*5.729)-(10*F):I=INT(RB(S)*57
29)-(100*F)-(10*G):DRAW"C0;BM66
,151;XA$(FS);BM+7,0;XA$(GS);BM+7
,0;XA$(IS);C1;XA$(I);BM-7,0;XA$(
G);BM-7,0;XA$(F);":FS=F:GS=G:IS=
I:JB=RB(S):GOTO 1700
-----[ END OF LINE ]-----
After that, I think can deal with a few parentheses here and there.
My dislike of Lisp also has nothing to do with its seemingly archaic, or even
downright bizarre, function names like CAR and CDR (which stand for “Contents
of Address Register” and “Contents of Decrement Register” respectively—no,
seriously, they do [3]!) which to modern people have no relationship to what
they actually do (return the first element of a list, and a list minus the
first element, respectively). Non-English programmers have had to deal with
programming using seemingly arbitrary letter combinations for years.
Don't get me wrong—I'm fully thankful that I don't have to program in, say, a
Swedish programming language:
-----[ Håstad ]-----
(*
Thanks to wlofie for translating the code
from Pascal [4]
into Håstad [5]
*)
medan not_done
börja
för x:= 1 till 5 gör
börja
om person^.age = 120 så
too_old(person);
om person^.age > 130 så
gåtill person_should_be_dead;
slut;
slut;
-----[ END OF LINE ]-----
But that doesn't mean I couldn't if I had to. I would just have to learn that
code blocks appear between the tokens BÖRJA and SLUT and that we don't have
IF THEN statements, but OM SÅ statements.
So it's not that Lisp contains nonsensical function names like CAR, CDR and
TERPRI (like C doesn't have weirdly-named functions like strspn() and sbrk())
that make me dislike the language.
This, and the syntax, are shallow problems, easy to deal with in various
ways. No, the reasons I hate Lisp are deeper than that.
I'm the compiler when using Lisp.
Sure, I can let SETF Do The Right Thing™ in updating a variable instead of
using SET, SETQ or RPLACA (for instance), yet there are still areas of Lisp
(okay, Common Lisp if you want to be pedantic) where I get to micromanage the
code [6].
Arrays, for instance, can have up to seven dimensions (or more, depending
upon the implementation), but arrays of a single dimension are considered
“vectors” and have different functions to access elements, but there are also
two special cases of vectors, bit vectors and strings, and each of those have
special access functions. That's at least four different methods of accessing
arrays.
You also have a slew of functions that manipulate and modify lists in place,
like NCONC, NREVERSE, NUNION and DELETE, but there are an equal (EQ? EQL?
EQUALP?) number that generate a new list: APPEND, REVERSE, UNION and REMOVE
(ah, if only there were some consistency in the function names). It'd be nice
if I didn't have to deal with such details and let the compiler figure it out
for me (much like manual memory allocation, which Lisp does away with because
it's garbage collected, but then, if that's so, why does Paul Graham [7]
include a section about avoiding garbage collection in his book _ANSI Common
Lisp_ [8]?).
Oh, and then there's LET and LET*. Both let you [DELETED-declare a bunch of
variables-DELETED] sorry, bind a bunch of variables (there's apparently a
subtle distinction between setting a variable, and binding a variable, but
from where I'm at, I can't tell the difference), but one does it
“sequentially” and the other does it “in parallel” (which has implications
about using previous bindings to bind later bindings—hey, I didn't design
this language) and why the Lisp system can't figure out which one to use is
beyond my ken.
And reading up on the subtle differences between PROG, PROG* PROGN, PROG1,
PROG2 and PROGV is like reading Medieval monastic tomes on the differences
between the care and feeding of Seraphim, Cherubim, Ophanim and Erelim.
Gee, if I wanted to micromanage code at that level, I'd be writing in
Assembly. And I wouldn't have to deal with all the parentheses around each
statment either.
I still like the idea of Lisp, and I think as a target language, it makes
sense. But when I write a program, I want to solve a particular problem, not
play compiler, unless, of course, I'm writing a compiler. Lisp proponents say
that's a feature, because you are supposed to write a DSL (Domain Specific
Language) in Lisp that succinctly solves the problem you're trying to solve
with a program, but we already have a bazillion different computers
langauges; do we really need a bazillion more one-off computer languages [9]?
(my frightening minor epiphany [10] is also related to this, as computer
languages are primarily communication between programmers and may help to
explain why a language like Java is so popular in large companies, and Lisp
isn't)
Update later today
Oh, one more thing I forgot [11] …
[1]
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=91
[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rainbow_(magazine)
[3]
http://www.iwriteiam.nl/HaCAR_CDR.html
[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal
[5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Håstad
[6]
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2006/01/26.2
[7]
http://www.paulgraham.com/
[8]
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0133708756/conmanlaborat-20
[9]
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2007/01/23.1
[10]
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2007/05/29.2
[11]
gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2008/01/04.2
Email author at
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