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,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,f2125390ce17553a X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-11-15 01:40:46 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!HSNX.atgi.net!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!216.218.192.242!news.he.net!news-out.spamkiller.net!propagator2-maxim!news-in.spamkiller.net!news02.tsnz.net!newsfeed01.tsnz.net!news.xtra.co.nz!53ab2750!not-for-mail From: "AG" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <3dd10fa0_2@news.arcor-ip.de> <3DD11253.7050102@nestcape.net> <3dd2147f_1@news.arcor-ip.de> <3DD3C19A.C0DAD898@kolumbus.fi> Subject: Re: I want to ask you All an advice, please X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 22:41:41 -0800 NNTP-Posting-Host: 210.54.86.116 X-Complaints-To: newsadmin@xtra.co.nz X-Trace: news.xtra.co.nz 1037353245 210.54.86.116 (Fri, 15 Nov 2002 22:40:45 NZDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 22:40:45 NZDT Organization: Xtra Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:30925 Date: 2002-11-15T22:41:41-08:00 List-Id: "Martti Halminen" wrote in message news:3DD3C19A.C0DAD898@kolumbus.fi... > Georg Bauhaus wrote: > > How many levels of nested function application can a human being > > remember? Try > > (+ 3 (* 4 (+ 7 6 (- 5 1)) (/ 4 (+ 5 6))) > > "by hand" for an easy example. The tree isn't unusually high. > > Few Lisp programmers would write it like that. > > (+ 3 (* 4 > (+ 7 6 (- 5 1)) > (/ 4 (+ 5 6)))) > would be more likely to be found in actual code. > The trick in reading Lisp is to leave the bellyaching about parentheses > to the compiler and editor, and use the indentation to read the code > structure. Unfortunately, in your own example, as posted, there are no visible indentations. If, by "indentation" you simply mean the nested brackets put on separate lines, well then, simple SQL statements can also be written like that: ... where x1 = (... where x2 = (... where x3 = (... ...))) If that's the best Lisp techniques can offer, it's not terribly impressive really. Mind you, I'm not saying that it *is* the best it can offer (or even think so) but that particular example simply doesn't hold water, sorry.