Re:Ask HN: Would Spreadsheets with Lisps be much more powerful?
by dTal on Friday June 11, 2021 @08:59AM
(#27472684)
When people speak of "power" in a programming language, they generally mean expressive power. It's true that all (Turing-complete) programming languages can theoretically encode the same programs - but they do not all take the same time to implement. Lisp is more powerful than C; C is more powerful than x86 assembly; x86 assembly is more powerful than Brainfuck.
It's reasonable to ask if a given approach to language design results in more "power". It's not just a question of taste.
Re:Ask HN: Would Spreadsheets with Lisps be much more powerful?
by quickthrower2 on Friday June 11, 2021 @04:25AM
(#27470653)
One interesting thing with lisp and spreadsheets would be that a you can transform data in the sheet into a program with a macro, so rather than just values one cell could turn other parts of the workbook into a dsl. Could be some interesting shenanigans you can get up to.
Re:Ask HN: Would Spreadsheets with Lisps be much more powerful?
by sarvasvkulpati on Friday June 11, 2021 @04:32AM
(#27470719)
Thank you! This makes a lot of sense!
If I can run any arbitrary lisp program in a cell (assuming the env is global), I was wondering if this was just a 2d text editor for a lisp. But that's awfully reductionist.
But you're right I'm assuming I'll discover interesting things if I keep tinkering with it!
My feeling is that it doesn't have to make sense, and you don't really need to have any justification. If you want to make a spreadsheet system with Lisp, I'd definitely do it. You learn the most when you do your own projects, and interest is the fuel.
Also, we're bad at determining beforehand what actually is important, so maybe you work on something as a toy, but later it (or some piece of knowledge developed while working on it) is crucial for something else later.