Got through the first few chapters of "Practical Common Lisp".
Whether I end up liking Lisp remains to be seen, but I have seen enough already to begin to appreciate Lisp. And have more confidence that my instincts where sensible - taking this detour as a way of getting to the next stage as a Python programmer. And the experience, so far, also reinforces my instincts about Python - as a learning language. With little other than some Python under my belt, I can make my way through the Lisp presentation feeling prepared and competent. So in my case, Python has been foundation for exploring first Java - and getting far enough into it that I felt I understood its fundamentals, and that I could become competent in it should I choose (and chose not to) - and now Lisp. I would think that the fact that Python has provided a foundation that could take me in each of these directions says a lot its utility as a learning language. I just wish, as always, we could disassociate "learning language" from the notion of "easy". I wouldn't expect an effort that provides the foundation for learning of approaches to programming as diverse as Java and Lisp to be easy. My sense is that in some important senses learning Java is easier than learning Python. But at the end of it I also suspect that one is a Java programmer - and little else. Which is why it is not a particularly good learning language. Art _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
