Lisp-Python vs. Erlang (was MLvtA, was Meta)

[James Hague]

On 8/24/06, Jay Nelson <jay@REDACTED> wrote:
>
> I think it reads clearer than lisp or python for the following reasons:
>
> 1) Prolog-like patterns map to the problem domain as a grammar function
>      rather than the artificial list/hash map structure.  Also the compiler
>      can optimize it more easily so clarity plus speed.
>
> 3) The use of tuples and lists differentiates intent better.

These two are huge, IMO.  As much as I appreciate the power of Lisp
and Scheme, once I started using a language with pattern matching I
lost my taste for Lisp.  The programs in Norvig's _Paradigm's of AI
Programming_, which are some of the most interesting and powerful
programs in any textbook, are quite unaesthetic, as least to my eye.
Maybe Larry Wall said it best:

"I think in particular of Lisp, which is the most beautiful language
in the world, and every program in lisp is real ugly."

James