termpose/scopes style syntaxes have an issue where the type of the line depends on the amount it contains. One item → atom. Two or more → list. This can sometimes be shocking. But I'm realising now that was never a real issue if you use the right API during parsing.
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You can write code that doesn't distinguish atoms from an otherwise empty list with an atom at the front.
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If you extend this reasoning, "Use the right API so that it doesn't distinguish cases it shouldn't"... you will eventually realise that our extremely homogeneous lisp syntaxes aren't buying you much.
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General API design lesson: Make it easy to ignore annoying distinctions, but don't remove the user's ability to draw the distinction when they want to.
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Replying to @makoConstruct
I think in practice “savvy/idiomatic” use of a language involves finding the places in your problem where e.g. the atom vs Singleton list is significant, and mapping it to the language’s syntactic idiosyncrasy
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I think frequently about how “pythonic” code often involves emotions, where an emotional feeling of “unheralded conservative folk wisdom” results in the premature termination of ambivalence over how to express a problem
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