* 2011-07-13T10:34:41-04:00 * Terry Reedy wrote: > On 7/13/2011 4:29 AM, Teemu Likonen wrote: >> Please don't forget that the whole point of Lisps' (f x) syntax is >> that code is also Lisp data. > > Thank you for clarifying that. Some Lispers appear to promote the > simple, uniform syntax' as a end in itself (making code=data a side > effect) rather than as a means to accomplish a deeper end.
Perhaps, yes. We can't really speak of Lisp's syntax in the same sense as syntax in other languages. >> CL-USER> (let ((lisp (cons 'programmable nil))) >> (setf (rest lisp) lisp)) > > This much looks like Lisp > >> #1=(PROGRAMMABLE . #1#) > > This must be some of the new-fangled Common LIsp stuff I never learned > ;=). It's a way for the Lisp printer to show circular structures. In this case it shows a cons cell. Its first part is the symbol PROGRAMMABLE and the second part is a pointer back to the cons cell itself. So, it's a kind of infinite linked list with the same item PROGRAMMABLE all the time. With Lisp printer settings (setf *print-circle* nil *print-length* 5) the same thing would be printed this way: (PROGRAMMABLE PROGRAMMABLE PROGRAMMABLE PROGRAMMABLE PROGRAMMABLE ...) -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list