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From: Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: OT: Programming Languages
Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2024 11:59:00 -0700
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On 11/3/2024 8:30 AM, maitre Aliboron wrote:
> Talking about structural "elegance" in my opinion (Common) LISP is one of the 
> best. Data, structures, functions, even programs... everything is only atoms 
> and lists.

Yes, but it is VERY hard for people to wrap their heads around.
Sort of like parsing a binary file -- there are no real
"identifying features" from which to get your bearings.

Lists are a great addition to a language but almost always
drag in the need for GC.

Folks often implement lists in other languages -- but, usually by
tainting the data type that is being listed.  E.g., adding a
"next (previous)" element(s) to a struct seems "free".  But,
implicitly changes the data type of the listed item.

E.g., how would you make a list of floats?
{ theFloat, *theNextFloat } is no longer a "float" but some
bastard data type.  Adding a float to said list would mean
converting it to one of these bastards *before* prepending it.