Re:CL21: An experimental project redesigning Common Lisp
by Retra on Thursday February 19, 2015 @08:42PM
(#9078434)
Familiarity makes it easier to learn, not easy. Just as long as you don't betray anyone's expectations about what they already know.
I remember struggling with Haskell because there is a function called 'nub', which wasn't anywhere near what I would have called the function if I had named it. Hoogle says "(The name nub means `essence'.)" In Lisp it is called 'remove-duplicates.' In Python it is list(set(x)). In SQL it is 'select distinct.'
So what advantage does nub pose? Not one of clarity, but of convenience for those "in the know." (Which is not those who are learning the language.)
I remember struggling with Haskell because there is a function called 'nub', which wasn't anywhere near what I would have called the function if I had named it. Hoogle says "(The name nub means `essence'.)" In Lisp it is called 'remove-duplicates.' In Python it is list(set(x)). In SQL it is 'select distinct.'
So what advantage does nub pose? Not one of clarity, but of convenience for those "in the know." (Which is not those who are learning the language.)