From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/31051 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Stainless Steel Rat Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.gnus.general Subject: Re: Python Emacs (was Re: The .. rule) Date: 17 May 2000 21:25:21 -0400 Organization: The Happy Fun Ball Brigade Sender: owner-ding@hpc.uh.edu Message-ID: References: <00May12.111709edt.115683@gateway.intersys.com> <200005121547.RAA12153@marcy.cs.uni-dortmund.de> <200005172027.WAA16517@marcy.cs.uni-dortmund.de> <00May17.163721edt.115620@gateway.intersys.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: coloc-standby.netfonds.no Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1035167505 11854 80.91.224.250 (21 Oct 2002 02:31:45 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 02:31:45 +0000 (UTC) Return-Path: Original-Received: from lisa.math.uh.edu (lisa.math.uh.edu [129.7.128.49]) by mailhost.sclp.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6923CD051E for ; Wed, 17 May 2000 21:26:03 -0400 (EDT) Original-Received: from sina.hpc.uh.edu (lists@Sina.HPC.UH.EDU [129.7.3.5]) by lisa.math.uh.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id UAB29971; Wed, 17 May 2000 20:25:54 -0500 (CDT) Original-Received: by sina.hpc.uh.edu (TLB v0.09a (1.20 tibbs 1996/10/09 22:03:07)); Wed, 17 May 2000 20:25:22 -0500 (CDT) Original-Received: from mailhost.sclp.com (postfix@sclp3.sclp.com [204.252.123.139]) by sina.hpc.uh.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA05844 for ; Wed, 17 May 2000 20:25:07 -0500 (CDT) Original-Received: from peorth.rgo.gweep.net (h0060978d8c91.ne.mediaone.net [24.147.75.115]) by mailhost.sclp.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4E1A2D051E for ; Wed, 17 May 2000 21:25:29 -0400 (EDT) Original-Received: (from ratinox@localhost) by peorth.rgo.gweep.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id VAA02679; Wed, 17 May 2000 21:25:21 -0400 Original-To: "(ding)" X-Attribution: Rat In-Reply-To: Brian Edmonds's message of "17 May 2000 14:04:08 -0700" Original-Lines: 33 User-Agent: Gnus/5.0806 (Gnus v5.8.6) XEmacs/20.4 (Emerald) Precedence: list X-Majordomo: 1.94.jlt7 Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.gnus.general:31051 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general:31051 * Brian Edmonds on Wed, 17 May 2000 | Or there are some of us who think C++ sucks, but have serious trouble | thinking in Lisp. Learning Perl was a no-brainer for me, but every time | I go to hack anything more difficult than a setq in my Emacs config I'm | tearing my hair out. For whatever it's worth my brain just doesn't work | in the Lisp way. My guess is that you are attempting to "translate" Lisp into something you are familiar with. This is bad for natural languages, and it is bad for Lisp. The mark of well-written Lisp is that you can read it almost like a natural language. In other words, when you see (+ 1 2 3 4) You are consciously translating it into something like one plus two plus three plus four Of course you have trouble; you are making it more complex than it is. Instead, try reading it as add one, two, three, four Once you can do that, parentheses become useful punctuation, just as they are with complex algebraic notation. Lisp works that way becuause it is a functional language. Everything in Lisp is a function of one sort or another, from the simplest setq to the most complex lambda (now, some of those give *me* a headache, but I've never laid claim to programming godhead :). -- Rat \ Do not use Happy Fun Ball on concrete. Minion of Nathan - Nathan says Hi! \ PGP Key: at a key server near you! \