, is typically “unquote.” Clojure is the only “mainstream” Lisp that allows , as whitespace. Has meaning in CL and Scheme.
Ancient LISP (caps deliberate) in fact had optional commas that were treated as whitespace. You can see this in the Lisp 1 Programmer's Manual (dated 1960).
This practice quickly disappeared though. (I don't have an exact time line about this.)
Re:Why I Program in Lisp
by eyelidlessness on Friday April 11, 2025 @05:39PM
(#43658918)
My mistake!
That’s what I get for not double checking… well… basically anything I think during my first cup of coffee.
If you want to use commas, you can in Lisp dialects I’m familiar with—they’re optional because they’re treated as whitespace, but nothing is stopping you if you find them more readable!