Re: Improving aesthetics & readability of backquote

[조성빈 <pcr910303@icloud.com>]

2019. 5. 23. 오전 12:57, Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> 작성:

> "Paul W. Rankin" <hello@paulwrankin.com> writes:
> 
>> Me:     As a comparatively new user, I remember when learning Emacs
>>        I found this part ugly and confusing. Here is a suggestion
>>        from such a perspective on how it could be improved.
> 
> Most people participating here have learned Lisp long time ago, so they
> probably don't remember how it was.

I learned Common Lisp about a year ago, and is teaching my friend CL. I learned Elisp a bit later, because I tried to customize my Emacs (which I started to use because of SLIME).
I think it’s pretty fair for me to say about beginner experiences.

> I'm quite sure that ` and , are indeed ugly, make Lisp more complicated
> and harder to learn.  But they have a huge advantage that more than
> outweighs all of that: they make complex list constructions much better
> readable.  But only after one got used to them.  Once you did get used
> to this syntax, it's invaluable.

I would say, it is indeed ugly; but it wasn’t a pain point. That’s not something begginers would say it’s complicated or harder to learn.
And, it allows beginners to gripe what ‘macro’ is, because it’s similar enough with real code to show that macros generate ‘code’ and different enough with real code to show that macros ‘generate’ code.
I immediately understood what macros do by just looking at the backquote, and my friend is having a similar experience.

> My personal opinion is that learners need to get used to it.  I'm not
> convinced allowing a different simpler syntax would be beneficial: it
> would complicate things and maybe keep newbies from learning a lesson
> they would need to learn anyway.
> 
> 
> Michael.
>