Author: Rainer Weikusat Date: To: dng Subject: Re: [DNG] Non-popularity of Lisp
Ian Zimmerman <itz@???> writes: > On 2016-01-24 21:37 -0500, Miles Fidelman wrote:
>> >The Lisp with M-expressions is called ML.
[...]
> I was not trying to say that there is a historical line of development
> from Lisp to ML, but that a hypothetical well-designed Lisp with infix
> syntax looks a lot like ML.
The Lisp syntax is well-designed because it's uniform instead of
sticking to centuries-old conventions for a certain shorthand notation
which are passed down from generation to generation because ... well
... just because.
But 'well designed' from a technical point of view is not the same as
'designed in order to be readily acceptable and understandable(!) by
people used to different conventions' (however arbitrary and illogical
these may seem to be).