Python vs Lisp (followups to -tangents)

[Random832 <random832@fastmail.com>]

On 2015-12-10, Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> wrote:
> I looked at this some years ago, and I concluded there is only a
> little validity in it.  The main essential features of Lisp are not
> present in Python.

For some clue of what you're talking about, your previous
statement on this matter was:

> I skimmed documentation of Python after people told me it was
> fundamentally similar to Lisp. My conclusion is that that is
> not so. `read', `eval', and `print' are all missing in Python.

I must admit, I don't fully understand what you mean by this.

Print is the most confusing. As a feature, Lisp's 'print' can be
described as: Produce a string representation which can be read
back of some objects (certainly not *all* objects - not buffers
or subroutines, for example, and it's not structure-preserving
for lists of lists), and display it on standard output.
Python's 'repr' could be regarded as an exact match in concept
for prin1-to-string, a building block from which Lisp's 'print'
can be trivially made. The essential feature - that there is a
way to get a string that can be read back for objects for which
it is reasonable/easy - is present.

Python's 'eval'/'exec' normally evaluates code directly from a
string, skipping the need for 'read' entirely. However, if
desired, the 'ast' module provides a rich framework for working
with expression trees - the only difference is that they're
built from class-based objects instead of just being a list of
lists/symbols/literals.