Allan Schougaard: 'Racket Syntax: The Great, the Good and the Back to the Drawing Board'

[@mikedelmonaco6193]

I like the closing paren suggestion, but not because of readability. I think proper indentation makes it obvious enough where the `for` ends and you don't need to worry about which parens match to which. My main reason for liking it is because of git diffs. When you add a new sub-expression to the end of a multi-line expression like a `define` or a `for`, the git diff should be just adding a new line. But since the close parens are no longer on what used to be the last expression, you get a 2-line diff with a modification. It's a small thing, but it makes reading diffs a little slower because it's not always obvious whether the now second-to-last expression actually changed or it's just the closing parens.

[@spdegabrielle]

I like it. I like the proposal.

[@CCcorrodedCrustacean]

I don't care that much about the other points, but I can't agree more that the indentation style is a pain. I'm pretty sure people who complain about 'too many parentheses' are in fact bothered by not being able to see matching parens immediately. This style also makes it more trouble than it's worth to edit lists of arguments because the first element is on the same line as the head, and the last has all the closing parentheses after it, so they can't be moved or deleted as a line. I also find it annoying that the indentation width varies with the length of the head, which can eat up horizontal space very quicly, leading to wrapped or truncated lines which are a pain to read.

[@ascho-o3x]

There are in fact already two libraries the implement a HTML like language: rws-html-template and web-server/templates

[@theunbearables]

coming from other languages I agree. Going beyond naming, capital letter class/types make it easy to see what it is at a glance, and I didn't realize how easy matching braces could get in s-expression based languages. Maybe there will be an autoformatter that can do this for you

[@metalnwood]

When the topic of indentation with parens comes up, semi frequently, I have to agree based on my experience that it clicks and becomes natural and you get very used to the structure of lisp. So I really don't believe that the messy representation of lisp in the 'prickly' way is required. It may help some people new to the language but assuming that they become proficient they will also become proficient in working with the structure of lisp and they will start to read it more naturally. It will be other areas of lisp that have people leave the language before they are proficient in it, not the parens.

[@lockbert99]

I was doing that matching paren style in Emacs Lisp code and I told a co-worker about it (who was not a Lisp user) and he gave me some strong negative reaction. And that included going against the Lisp Gods or something similar. And I have felt guilty about doing it ever since and try and avoid it. Thanks for showing that!

[@tgerdin1]

In Sweden @ is known as a cinnamon roll.

[@peterkerj7357]

Va?!

[@tgerdin1]

@ kanelbulle (iaf i Västerås)

[@ascho-o3x]

@@tgerdin1 snabel-a in Denmark

[@replikvltyoutube3727]

Turn lisp into this popular language called java

[@apgwoz]

I can’t imagine a better way to make people ignore the rest of the great points than to bring up a “tabs vs spaces” argument. Closing parentheses location doesn’t matter, but they definitely always belong next to other closing parens. :)

[@ascho-o3x]

Do the location of }s matter?

[@apgwoz]

@ *sigh* - joking or not, if you have to apologize for it ahead of time, it’s probably best not to say it.

[@sillystuff6247]

the dying scala language is "a better java than java"? scala is not even a top 20 language on any major programming language survey/index. no new major apps or companies are built around scala. real-world programmers avoid scala because scala is designed to confuse.

[@ascho-o3x]

Yeah? Well, you know, that's just like your opinion, man.😊