Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.scheme,comp.lang.misc
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!cornellcs!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!portc01.blue.aol.com!portc02.blue.aol.com!howland.erols.net!news.mathworks.com!mvb.saic.com!eskimo!cgweav
From: Clayton Weaver <cgweav@eskimo.com>
Subject: Re: Microsoft Common Lisp?
In-Reply-To: <5dbqqm$a6p@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>
X-Nntp-Posting-Host: eskimo.com
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.95q.970206172758.9141F-100000@eskimo.com>
Originator: cgweav@eskimo.com
Sender: news@eskimo.com (News User Id)
Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever
References: <5c68g1$d4i@web.nmti.com> <kn915lug5r.fsf@xena.mindspring.com> <5clrnr$gb0@fido.asd.sgi.com> <854536029snz@wildcard.demon.co.uk> <32F179B7.6BF4@bway.net> <E4wA0D.7o7@world.std.com> <vfr750E504nq.FoG@netcom.com> <5dalnv$1bm$2@newsserver.dircon.co.uk> <5dbqqm$a6p@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Fri, 7 Feb 1997 01:40:37 GMT
Lines: 24
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.lisp:25219 comp.lang.scheme:18496 comp.lang.misc:28329

So if I'm programming in kanji, for example, what do left and right
parentheses look like?

I'm wondering if lisp plays easier in languages where parenthetical
delimiters aren't quite the slim ascender that latin alphabets use. It
get's a lot easier to read with nested syntax coloring on just the ()
characters, for example. They just don't stand out from each other with
much emphasis when they are all the same color on a monitor displaying
ascii code pages or latin1.

I was wondering about emacs, which gets roundly criticized by people
who prefer fast and small for it's bulk and at times lethargic lisp
foundations on some hardware configurations. But emacs should benefit over
time from the same developments that make it easier to use gui
environments: cheap ram, cheap disks, and faster processors. If you have
enough ram and a fast enough machine and you can easily tell one ( from
another in (((((, either because each nesting colors the parentheses
differently or because they are an altogether more emphatic character in a
particular language's glyphs, does elisp (and common lisp and scheme by
exension) get more convenient to use and acquire the sort of do all
programming persona now enjoyed by tools like C, perl, and tcl?

Regards, Clayton Weaver  cgweav@eskimo.com  (Seattle)

