On Friday, January 29, 2021, 10:19:54 AM EST, Liam Proven via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: >On Fri, 29 Jan 2021 at 13:11, Peter Corlett via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> >wrote: >> >> It is *also* the use of symbols. Firstly, some people are just symbol-blind >> and prefer stuff spelled out in words. It's just how brains are wired. > > Agreed. I submit this is also why some people find Lisp (and perhaps > Forth and Postscript) straightforward, while to others it remains ineffable.
This reminds me of something I once heard Grace Hopper say. Now this won't be an exact quote since I'm relying on some rather old memory. As I remember it, she said: "There are basically two kinds of people in the world. The first is those of use who are Mathematicians at heart. We want to take all the words and turn them into symbols. Everyone else wants to take all the symbols and turn them into words. COBOL is for them." BLS
