From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 107f24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid107f24,public X-Google-Thread: f4fd2,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gidf4fd2,public X-Google-Thread: 1164ba,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid1164ba,public X-Google-Thread: 10259a,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid10259a,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public X-Google-Thread: 103d24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid103d24,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,ea8ea502d35ca2ce X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-10 09:02:15 PST Path: newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!cyclone-sjo1.usenetserver.com!news-out-sjo.usenetserver.com!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.skycache.com!Cidera!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!newsfeed.mesh.ad.jp!sjc-peer.news.verio.net!iad-feed.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!carrier.kiev.ua!news.kiev.sovam.com!Svitonline.COM!news.ukr.net!news.tsystems.kiev.ua!glukr!freenews.gu.net!not-for-mail From: Eugene Zaikonnikov Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.basic,comp.lang.functional,comp.lang.scheme,comp.lang.perl Subject: Re: Beginner's Language? Date: 10 May 2001 18:07:42 +0300 Organization: Center of Information Technology - CIT Message-ID: <6y3dadcke9.fsf@viking.cit> References: <9cukad$nn68@news-dxb> <9d6b6e$1bt$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <87snihxiwc.fsf@frown.here> <9dbi83$sji$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <87heyu7cqd.fsf@frown.here> <9dc20p$hh15e$1@ID-37382.news.dfncis.de> <9dclnt$9ic1@news.cis.okstate.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cpl2500.cit.org.by Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Mail-Copies-To: never X-Attribution: Eugene X-URL: User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.0.103 Cache-Post-Path: cpl2500.cit.org.by!unknown@viking.cit X-Cache: nntpcache 2.3.3 (see http://www.nntpcache.org/) Xref: newsfeed.google.com comp.lang.ada:7485 comp.lang.lisp:9955 comp.lang.smalltalk:9694 comp.lang.functional:5630 comp.lang.scheme:3783 comp.lang.perl:2785 Date: 2001-05-10T18:07:42+03:00 List-Id: * "DS" == David Starner writes: DS> Tell me what !bbz#,^az@bz, does. DS> Then tell me what DS> OPEN FILE ARGUMENT 2 AS 2 DS> BEGIN LOOP DS> LOAD FILE ARGUMENT 1 INTO BUFFER DS> COPY BUFFER TO 2 DS> FINISH LOOP does. Tell me what (loop for i across array1 for j in list1 maximize (/ i j)) does. DS> As for lisp itself, just from the name, what does defun or cadar DS> do? What do FUNCTION, PROCEDURE and BEGIN do? What '2 AS 2' do? DS> I've seen 2 + 2 since the first days of school. Why (+ 2 2)? Because: a) This syntax is uniform and requires no knowledge of operations precedence; b) Plus is not obliged to be a binary operator. Ability to write (+ foo bar baz qux) or (+ ,@my-list-of-variables) is handy. -- Eugene