Re: "Python for Lisp Programmers"

["S. Alexander Jacobson" <address@hidden>]

Then why not use ><.  They have the most overlap of all!
They are also visually the most different from A-z.

-Alex-


On Sun, 9 Dec 2001, Paul Graham wrote:

> McCarthy used parens for grouping in the original Lisp paper
>
> http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/recursive/node3.html
>
> probably because parens are usually used for grouping in math,
> which is what Lisp was at that point.
>
> I considered using some alternatives to parens for s-expressions
> in Arc, but decided to stick with parens.  They are more
> directional than square brackets, which is important when
> you have nested delimiters. Screen versions of l and r parens
> overlap in about 3 pixels, whereas square brackets overlap in all
> but 2 pixels. Compare )( and ][.  Angle-brackets are the most
> directional (and would have given added hipness points for
> looking like html/xml ;-) but don't seem to enclose expressions
> as much.
>
>
> > Historical question: Ergonomically, Parentheses are annoying because
> > they
> > require constant use of the SHIFT key.  Square brackets would have
> > been a
> > better choice.  Who chose parentheses and why?
> >
> > Note: the argument that, if square brackets were better, people would
> > use
> > them loses to the argument that network externalities make everyone
> > do the
> > same thing even if it is suboptimal (worse-is-better, microsoft,
> > etc).
> > The holds for infix Lisp and infix scheme.
> >
> > -Alex-
> >
> > ___________________________________________________________________
> > S. Alexander Jacobson                   i2x Media
> > 1-917-783-0889 voice                    1-212-697-1427 fax
> >
> >
>
>
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___________________________________________________________________
S. Alexander Jacobson                   i2x Media
1-917-783-0889 voice                    1-212-697-1427 fax