Re: s-exprs + prototypes

[Pascal Costanza <address@hidden>]

Michael St . Hippolyte wrote:
> On 2003.06.25 16:52 Pascal Costanza wrote:
> 
>> On Mittwoch, Juni 25, 2003, at 10:20  Uhr, Michael St . Hippolyte wrote:
>>
>> Lisp macros allow you to make the language fit any paradigm.
> 
> 
> To a Lisp programmer, macros may seem natural and great.  Perhaps they
> are.  But surely the fact that Lisp macros are so useful is a sign of
> limitations in the underlying language.  Wouldn't a really, really
> flexible language be able to fit any paradigm without the need for a
> second layer of syntax?

No, I don't think so. Syntax matters. If the language doesn't allow me 
to express a program in a way that it becomes apparent from the syntax 
what kind of paradigm is meant then I am not really programming in that 
paradigm. I am just simulating the paradigm on top of another. What Lisp 
macros give me is a way to completely take care of the simulation for me.


Pascal

-- 
Pascal Costanza               University of Bonn
mailto:costanza@web.de        Institute of Computer Science III
http://www.pascalcostanza.de  Römerstr. 164, D-53117 Bonn (Germany)