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From: vfr750@netcom.com (Will Hartung)
Subject: Re: Why lisp failed in the marketplace
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References: <01bc13dc$cfaa2b20$0f02000a@gjchome.nis.newscorp.com> <330512CF.6458@acm.org> <hbaker-1502970919500001@10.0.2.1> <33096B71.1C04@acm.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 17:55:17 GMT
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Sin-Yaw Wang <sinyaw@acm.com> writes:

>Henry Baker wrote:
>> In article <330512CF.6458@acm.org>, sinyaw@acm.org wrote:
>> > I think fundamentally, Lisp syntax is not natural for human being.

>I don't read comp.lang.lisp, so I respond only to the comp.lang.scheme
>postings.

>Why do we argue if this syntax is natural or not?  This is silly.  Go
>find a good sample of software engineers and ask them, "Is Lisp syntax
>and recursive thinking natural to you?"  Tally the responses and you
>have the answer.  No amount of argument will change that fact.  (This
>seems like a good grad school project.)

Why do we argue if driving on the left is natural or not? This is
silly. Go find a good sample of all of the drivers of the London
Taxi Fleet and ask them "Is driving on the left natural to you?" Tally
the responses and you have the answer. No amount of argument will
change that fact. (This seems like a silly waste of bandwidth.)

>I will place my bets on right now...

Hmm...putting money on opionion polls...I though thats what election
campaign contributions were for...

>Gone are the days people (even professionals) change for computer.  It
>is the time computer must become natural to people.  Whether the syntax
>is mathematically beuatiful does not make it more natural.

Absolutely! Well said! Here, Here!

Let me chime in and add my voice to the chant "Work harder, and
not smarter." Keep that head a pounding and the brick wall WILL yield!

How can anyone expect someone to perform THE most natural feat of a
human being: Learn, and adapt to its environment. What a shocking
assumption.

>I still assert that the more natural the syntax, the more productive
>your engineers.  How can anyone dispute this fact? 

Have you ever been in a design meeting? Here, people use their most
natural syntax: shouting, finger pointing, opaque "charts and graphs",
pre-concieved notions and petty little self-contained empires to
protect. They aren't very productive at all.

>-- 
>Sin-Yaw Wang, sinyaw@acm.org
>http://www.concentric.net/~sinyaw

Oh dear, I'm sorry...I seem to have been typing with my [SARCASM LOCK]
on...


-- 
Will Hartung - Rancho Santa Margarita. It's a dry heat. vfr750@netcom.com
1990 VFR750 - VFR=Very Red    "Ho, HaHa, Dodge, Parry, Spin, HA! THRUST!"
1993 Explorer - Cage? Hell, it's a prison.                    -D. Duck
