Re:Dialects of Lisp
by chc on Friday February 22, 2013 @01:43PM
(#5265826)
> It violates few basic principles of Lisp - one common underlying list-structure for code and data (Clojure's code is a mix of different containers)
I can't see how this is true. IIRC Common Lisp has more standard data types than core Clojure does — it's just that Clojure has reader support for more of them and uses them a bit more freely. It is still homoiconic.
> It violates a general evaluation rule - one for every expression with a very few special forms, etc.
I assume you meant to write something like "one list for every expression". Clojure has essentially the same rule. In general, the things you are probably thinking of that omit lists where most Lisps use them (like Clojure's let and cond using juxtaposition rather than lists to group things) are macros, which could be written in any other Lisp just as well. These are done for convenience, much like Common Lisp's loop.
I can't see how this is true. IIRC Common Lisp has more standard data types than core Clojure does — it's just that Clojure has reader support for more of them and uses them a bit more freely. It is still homoiconic.
> It violates a general evaluation rule - one for every expression with a very few special forms, etc.
I assume you meant to write something like "one list for every expression". Clojure has essentially the same rule. In general, the things you are probably thinking of that omit lists where most Lisps use them (like Clojure's let and cond using juxtaposition rather than lists to group things) are macros, which could be written in any other Lisp just as well. These are done for convenience, much like Common Lisp's loop.