Eric Pederson wrote: >>>"No programmer who learned Lisp ever gave up before he learned Lisp."That >>>would be the obvious retort, but my observation was empirical, so I >> >>am afraid you need numbers, not word games. >> >>You seem awfully hostile, by the way. Won't that make it harder to >>conduct an intelligent exchange of value to lurkers? >> >> >>>I wonder, how many people gave up trying to learn Lisp because the >>>language was too hard for them to read? Anyone like to bet that the number >>>was more than zero?Sorry, no one ever discovered Lisp, decided it would be >>>great for >> >>programming, started learning it and then gave up because they could not >>handle the syntax. > > > > > Uh. Clearly no one would be dumb enough to admit it in front of the > entire usenet world, right?
The good news is that I was just trying to flush out a live specimen. The bad news is that after some tests we want to dissect you. > > - Mr. NoOne > > > P.S. I am still going to get back to it when I get some time, really. > LISP seems intriguing and superior, almost a magical Rubik's cube > waiting for me. I just stumbled across Python in the meantime and code > started flowing - I got distracted. Oh, shucks, that is not "gave up because they could not handle the syntax". You have me wondering if I would have switched from C to Lisp had Python been what itis now back in '95. Obviously the simple transition would have been attractive. OTOH I had done extensive LOGO (and loved it) and experimented heavily with Prolog, so syntax would not scare me. The immaturity of Python would have been an issue because I had just gotten sliced up pretty badly with bleeding edge stuff I tried at the same time (trying desperately to avoid C++). I beat on the C preprocessor like I was its daddy, so macros might have made sense to me even without having played with them. Giving up cycles I would not like all other things being equal. And to tell you the truth, novelty tends to make me more productive, not less, because fresh brain cells perforce get pulled into play. Sounds like I would have dabbled in both, and then Lisp would have won because I recall the first two weeks being pretty much astonished whooping and hollering over how great Lisp was. But Python has a lot of that, too. > I have CL (& Scheme) on all my > machines awaiting my focus.... I'll join the flock any day now. :-) > I've just been busy. There is a cost to learning and I've not had the > spare change to date. > > But New Years resolutions need to be made: I could get up a couple > hours early and spend some quality time with CL, do a daily hour jog, > and eat a really heathly breakfast. Writing myself a note on this. > > > P.P.S. Undoubtedly not learning a syntax either means not enough time > was put in or the student lacked proper intelligence. Intelligence to understand syntax? Isn't it memory (and not so much that the correlation with intelligence would matter)? This punctuation means this, that punctuation means that, and the precedence is this. One of the big wins of Lisp is that it is just (verb object*) 95% of the time. Maybe you mean functional vs imperative requires intelligence? That I might buy. A little. But then Lisp handles imperative, too. You just get laughed at it if you post it to c.l.l. > This will always > bias the significance of learning syntax as a factor in choice of > language to be under reported. That's OK, I am looking for the person so bright they have the self-confidence to expose their failure. Then we do not have to dissect them, we can ask them to introspect and get useable data. But you did not say anythng about having a problem with Lisp at all let alone the syntax and indeed offer some quotes that could go in the RtL Highlight Film, so you are useless. No fee for you. :) ken -- Algebra: http://www.tilton-technology.com/LispNycAlgebra1.htm "Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty-five years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it." -- Elwood P. Dowd "I'll say I'm losing my grip, and it feels terrific." -- Smiling husband to scowling wife, New Yorker cartoon -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
