Overview and Introduction to Lisp (1986) [video]

Re:Overview and Introduction to Lisp (1986) [video] by ra88it on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @08:48AM (#16420244)

More than anything else, that paragraph is what kept me coming back when I first started learning to program and struggled mightily. I lugged that huge book around in my book bag for months, trying and failing to fully grok one of the earlier chapters, until I found a professor who was willing to help me with it. Ultimately we (the professor and I) were able to do a one semester independent study focusing on the material from SICP.

I used to read and re-read that paragraph. I read it aloud to my parents and to girlfriends, trying to find somebody to share my awe.

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Re:Overview and Introduction to Lisp (1986) [video] by adamc on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @08:59AM (#16420315)

Sometimes it is hard to find others who share an appreciation of the beauty of mathemtics or computing. People look at me funny when I say programming is every bit as much an art as writing a poem. Almost any human activity can be an art.

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Re:Overview and Introduction to Lisp (1986) [video] by lisper on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @12:01PM (#16421811)

> writing a poem

On that analogy, Lisp is like French. Other languages are like German.

(And before you downvote me please note: I am a native German speaker.)

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Re:Overview and Introduction to Lisp (1986) [video] by farray on Wednesday February 21, 2018 @11:30AM (#16430638)

Les mathématiciens sont comme les Français: quoiqu'on leur dise, ils le traduisent dans leur propre langue, et cela devient alors quelque chose de complètement différent. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Re:Overview and Introduction to Lisp (1986) [video] by mooss on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @03:33PM (#16423915)

That's funny because I am a native French speaker and I find German to be a very pleasing language to speak out loud. The sonorities are oddly satisfying to me.

Please note that I am nowhere near fluent in German. It just feels great, especially the way words can agglutinate to form comically long words, while still transporting meaning.

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Re:Overview and Introduction to Lisp (1986) [video] by lisper on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @04:48PM (#16424529)

I don't dispute any of that. But French is still a better language for writing poetry (IMHO).

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Re:Overview and Introduction to Lisp (1986) [video] by mooss on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @05:19PM (#16424783)

I see. I kinda mixed up poetry and beauty.

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