Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> Speaking as somebody who programmed in FORTH for a while, that doesn't
> impress me much. Prefix/postfix notation is, generally speaking, more
> of a pain in the rear end than it is worth, even if it saves you a
> tiny bit of thought when pasting code.
Of course, you use prefix notation all the time in Python:
for x in range(0,len(y)):
dosomething(x)
In the example, 'for,' 'range,' 'len' and 'dosomething' all use
prefix notation. In Lisp the example might look like this, assuming the
proper functions and macros to make it work:
(for ((x (range 0 (length y))))
(dosomething x))
Slightly more idiomatic would be:
(loop for x in (range 0 (length y))
do (dosomething x))
Even more idiomatic would be:
(loop for x below (length y)
do (dosomething x))
Which doesn't seem particularly more or less prefixy or infixy than the
Python version.
Infix is really only used in arithmetic--and there are Lisp macros which
give one infix notation if wanted, so one could write:
(infix 1 + x / 4)
--
Robert Uhl <http://public.xdi.org/=ruhl>
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; give him a freshly-charged
Electric Eel and chances are he won't bother you for anything ever again.
--Tanuki the Raccoon-dog
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