Re: RE: succinctness = power

[Shriram Krishnamurthi <address@hidden>]

Paul Graham wrote:

> At least, it would seem to be a better plan than the 
> opposite approach of enshrining "design patterns".

To be fair, design patterns arose from exactly the kind of
archeological expedition you recommend.  That they have in some
circles stultified is a fault of their proponents rather than the idea
itself.  Perhaps their biggest weakness is that their initial
proponents did not demand linguistic mechanisms that would help
programmers integrate patterns into programs.

On the other hand, Erich Gamma promised me a beer and an explanation
for why such a linguistic encapsulation would be a bad idea.  I
haven't had a chance to collect, but I imagine the argument might be
that it would inhibit further discovery.  However, I think the Lisp
experience suggests contrariwise.

Shriram