Comments on: What learning lisp taught me about other languages

By: T

Mon, 05 May 2008 22:17:28 +0000

Shouldn’t you use Map in Java instead of Dictionary?

By: Steve Knight

Steve Knight — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:10:21 +0000

>> … it always feels like I’m toiling in the Type mines under the iron fist of compiler.

Brilliant!

By: Weave Jester

Weave Jester — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:44:17 +0000

@Steve
But that’s exactly what Ryan appears to be arguing. He said:

“what does ruby want for ifs again? curly braces? indentation?”

Since Ruby doesn’t have an indentation-based syntax, presumably he’s mixing Ruby up with Python. In other words, he complaining that different Algol-like languages have different syntax, and that this makes them difficult to remember.

I merely compared Arc to Scheme to show that Lisp-like languages can have dissimilar syntax as well.

By: Steev

Steev — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:19:48 +0000

It seems like some of you are suggesting he make a type for his example object. This is bogus and a waste of time.

By: rascunho » Blog Archive » links for 2008-03-31

rascunho » Blog Archive » links for 2008-03-31 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:53:28 +0000

[...] Ryan’s Tech Blog » What learning lisp taught me about other languages (tags: ryepup.unwashedmeme.com 2008 mes2 dia30 at_home Lisp programming) [...]

By: Code Auditor

Code Auditor — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:12:20 +0000

After auditting millions of lines and patches to various software projects and languages I can safely say that 40% of all lines in C/C++/Java programs is dedicated to static typing.

You have to maintain that code, it is non-trivial.

By: test 03/31/2008 « Strange Kite

test 03/31/2008 « Strange Kite — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:48:54 +0000

[...] Ryan’s Tech Blog » What learning lisp taught me about other languages [...]

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:00:30 +0000

If the author finds himself dealing with too many casts, it may be a sign of poor design (either his code, or the MS libraries). Often it helps to think before typing when using high level OO languages ;-)

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:56:57 +0000

@Weave Jester:

Using one example from Arc and one example from Scheme to show how “Lisp-like” languages are inconsistent is dishonest. It’s the same as using booleans in C vs. booleans in Java to show how “Algol-like” languages are inconsistent.

By: troelskn

troelskn — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:19:36 +0000

> The problem I have with Lisp is that whilst it’s lack of syntax paves the way for handy
> macros, it also makes it tougher for me to read than a language with more complex
> syntax like Python or Haskell.

Have you had a look at IO? It has much of the same minimalistic qualities that Scheme has, but with a syntax based on words, rather than parantheses.