From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Rustom Mody Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: why not "stripes" in: (let ((zebra 'stripes) ... ; strings vs symbols? Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2014 11:00:58 +0530 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1388640687 32611 80.91.229.3 (2 Jan 2014 05:31:27 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2014 05:31:27 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Jan 02 06:31:35 2014 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1VyasZ-00084o-45 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 02 Jan 2014 06:31:35 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:43436 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VyasY-0004JL-HU for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 02 Jan 2014 00:31:34 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:42723) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VyasO-0004JG-OX for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 02 Jan 2014 00:31:25 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VyasK-00038N-Pa for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 02 Jan 2014 00:31:24 -0500 Original-Received: from mail-pb0-x22e.google.com ([2607:f8b0:400e:c01::22e]:33503) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1VyasK-00038J-HQ for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 02 Jan 2014 00:31:20 -0500 Original-Received: by mail-pb0-f46.google.com with SMTP id md12so13968829pbc.19 for ; Wed, 01 Jan 2014 21:31:19 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date:message-id:subject:to :content-type; bh=Xm31rjr6PGV22/K8maJZa57b2z8GalMhX56eKLbrCEw=; b=S9kSsTDmDzjVM1U4/cHveOkcS43GpcMp+PSlX1NTdsORFkZalao7gd7kj7JXheW7Tt W//i40rudM0Ro3ZDsxVxpTH9uXw5WYjRBy4gLgA4UO08ajGiMcF+80aYIbuHZgApZgl8 ULR8xpYYhCwYU1RX+GA2OkTJXJni5LdjYhbCaF76UqIgpeWO0VkwNOsEXJ9Kjq1T0gjp vtKft21wOk85lyEIp3w+xwfsRXfdmO3xa5YSK22ueKFPAemUwFnbZJ9TjmcENR2MIxAI S0sylpXcmA+7Qv0iH5sJorcV9/B8WtTbtrEqKclgYdsokaQKqu2VeHRvqtfNIrbUVa5A edXQ== X-Received: by 10.68.143.196 with SMTP id sg4mr20948051pbb.155.1388640679048; Wed, 01 Jan 2014 21:31:19 -0800 (PST) Original-Received: by 10.68.99.35 with HTTP; Wed, 1 Jan 2014 21:30:58 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Error: Malformed IPv6 address (bad octet value). X-Received-From: 2607:f8b0:400e:c01::22e X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:95228 Archived-At: Emanuel Berg writes: > > The original idea was to bring to the Lisp environment > > many of the advantages of ML; specifically > > pattern-matching and later type checking. > So they did a new language just to get pattern-matching > in Lisp! I'm unsure if that is sheer folly *or* > dedication that should be admired. I wrote a destruct macro in scheme -- gives most of what pattern matching gives in the SML language family -- all of 91 lines. So much for lisp not having pattern matching. Type-discipline is very different issue altogether. I dont believe that any macro (system) can do that for lisp. The issue is that in CS one can choose structuring or universality. Some of the most powerful ideas in CS come from universality considerations, eg - von Neumann machines equivalencing data and code - Turing machine -> universal turing machine - Unix -- the byte stream as able to carry any and all data [How much we take for granted the last will be clear if you see what a file meant to an earlier generation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_set_%28IBM_mainframe%29 ] However at some point people become frightened of what Yuri describes > Like walking over a bridge with no safety rail in sight. and start putting up railings -- structurings.