From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Oliver Scholz Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Cool and Useful LISP for the .emacs file Date: Sat, 08 Nov 2003 11:15:33 +0100 Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1068287946 14235 80.91.224.253 (8 Nov 2003 10:39:06 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2003 10:39:06 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Nov 08 11:39:04 2003 Return-path: Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1AIQUh-0008C2-00 for ; Sat, 08 Nov 2003 11:39:04 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1AIRMx-0002Jo-Q7 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sat, 08 Nov 2003 06:35:07 -0500 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!npeer.de.kpn-eurorings.net!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!dialin-145-254-194-015.arcor-ip.NET!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 32 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: dialin-145-254-194-015.arcor-ip.net (145.254.194.15) Original-X-Trace: news.uni-berlin.de 1068286684 47588883 145.254.194.15 (16 [87814]) X-Attribution: os X-Face: "HgH2sgK|bfH$; PiOJI6|qUCf.ve<51_Od(%ynHr?=>znn#~#oS>",F%B8&\vus),2AsPYb -n>PgddtGEn}s7kH?7kH{P_~vu?]OvVN^qD(L)>G^gDCl(U9n{:d>'DkilN!_K"eNzjrtI4Ya6; Td% IZGMbJ{lawG+'J>QXPZD&TwWU@^~A}f^zAb[Ru;CT(UA]c& User-Agent: Gnus/5.1002 (Gnus v5.10.2) Emacs/21.3.50 (windows-nt) Cancel-Lock: sha1:u9iCPeeWAZ01uC+EelxKf7rEIFY= Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:118005 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2 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 Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:13944 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:13944 Dan Anderson writes: [...] > For most professional programmers learning LISP should not be hard > at all. For people who have never done any programming or taken > computer science courses, I can understand how it might cause > problems. I firmly disagree. Emacs Lisp was my first programming language and I do not recall having any troubles learning it which I could justifiedly attribute to the language. On the contrary the (mostly) uniform and very simple syntax of Lisp makes it very easy for a beginner. You may simply forget about the syntax, once you understood the meaning of `'', and concentrate on the much more important and much more difficult task of learning how to program. Without having to struggle with semicolons and operator precedence or whatever. After all, by definition a beginner had no prior exposure to a pure imperative, semicolon-driven language. Lisp is very friendly especially for beginners. Oliver PS: I would also like to note that copying and yanking only half understood Lisp snippets may also be a good first step into learning Emacs Lisp. -- 18 Brumaire an 212 de la Révolution Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité!