One theory that people often bring up vis-a-vis readability of lisp is that peop...

KC8ZKF · on June 28, 2014

Another theory is that there are far fewer symbols in Lisp than python or coffeewhatever, making it easier to read.

rtpg · on June 28, 2014

this is more of a "symbols per line" argument rather than "symbols in the language" argument.

    grade = (student) ->
      if student.excellentWork
        "A+"
      else if student.okayStuff
        if student.triedHard then "B" else "B-"
      else
        "C"

(from coffescript examples)

Imagine how many more symbols that would have in any lisp dialect

_19qg · on June 28, 2014

    (defun grade (student)
      (cond ((excellent-work student) :a+)
            ((okay-stuff     student) (if (tried-hard student) :b :b-))
            (t                        :c)))

illo · on June 28, 2014

Erlang, just for fun:

  grade(#student{work=Work, tried_hard=Tried}) -> grade1(Work, Tried).
  grade1(excellent_work, _) -> 'a+';
  grade1(okay_stuff, yes) -> b;
  grade1(okay_stuff, _) -> 'b-';
  grade1(_, _) -> c.

Edit: formatting.

JadeNB · on June 28, 2014

Or, if we're going to go with Prolog-inspired syntax, then why not Prolog?

    grade(Student, Grade) :-
        worked(Student, Work), work_grade(Work, Student, Grade).
    work_grade('Excellent', _, 'A+').
    work_grade('Okay', Student, 'B') :- tried_hard(Student).
    work_grade('Okay', _, 'B-').
    work_grade(_, _, 'C').

I'm a bit rusty, and I don't have a Prolog interpreter to hand to test, so I might have got some syntax wrong.

sfk · on June 28, 2014

I'm always amazed that I hardly ever program in Lisp and yet these short snippets are more readable than any other language.

dghf · on June 29, 2014

Yes, I've never understood why

    dostuff(x)

is considered so much more readable than

    (dostuff x)

bad_login · on June 28, 2014

   ;; comparing with racket:

   (define (grade student)
     (cond 
      [(excellent-work student) "A+"]
      [(and (okay-stuff student) (tried-hard student)) "B"]
      [(okay-stuff student) "B-"]
      [else "C"]))

   ;; Or

   (require racket/match)

   (define (grade student)
     (match (map (lambda (fn) (fn student)) 
                 '(excellent-work okay-stuff tried-hard))
       [(list #t _ _)  "A+"]
       [(list _ #t #t) "B"]
       [(list _ #t _)  "B-"]
       [else           "C"]))

dghf · on June 28, 2014

Clojure:

    (defn grade [student]
      (cond
        (excellent-work student)  "A+"
        (okay-stuff student)      (if (tried-hard student) "B" "B-")
        :else                     "C"))