Racket Is an Acceptable Python (2019)
Author of this blogpost here.  I think the post is good, though it&#x27;s mostly aimed at the perspective of &quot;Racket is a very practical Lisp, for getting things done, akin to how Python is a very practical lisp&quot; and also &quot;DrRacket gives an accessible entry-point for Lisp for newcomers.&quot;  Unfortunately I don&#x27;t think Racket quite took this to be the rallying cry I hoped them to, to embrace Racket&#x27;s lispiness <i>as</i> &quot;The Python of Lisps&quot; (which was the other alternate title I was debating between when I wrote it).<p>But in the comments here and as with most articles about Lisp, the conversation moves to... can newcomers understand Lisp&#x27;s syntax?  My spouse and I gave a talk about this very topic: &quot;Lisp but Beautiful; Lisp for Everyone&quot;. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;fosdem.org&#x2F;2022&#x2F;schedule&#x2F;event&#x2F;lispforeveryone&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;fosdem.org&#x2F;2022&#x2F;schedule&#x2F;event&#x2F;lispforeveryone&#x2F;</a><p>There&#x27;s a lot in there (including demonstrations of representations of lisp which <i>don&#x27;t</i> have parentheses at all).  But the biggest point in the talk is that lisp <i>isn&#x27;t</i> scary for <i>new</i> programmers... it&#x27;s scary for <i>experienced</i> programmers.  As we talk about in the video, my spouse and I co-ran introductions to programming using Racket aimed at humanities students with no required prior programming experience whatsoever.<p>What we found was that the students who had <i>no</i> prior programming experience, after just a few minutes, had no problem with the syntax (and DrRacket made it easy enough to pick up the language).  But we <i>did</i> have complaints in the class about lisp&#x27;s syntax... from those who <i>already knew how to program.</i>  They already had a frame, and within that frame, lisp&#x27;s syntax looked alien.  <i>Without</i> a frame, students just accepted it and did fine with the syntax... great, even.  (Many of them praised its clarity; like any decent lisp editor, DrRacket helps identify the kinds of parentheses-oriented errors that users <i>think</i> they&#x27;re going to encounter.)<p>Anyway, I do more work in Guile these days than Racket, but both are really great systems with great communities.  The thing I miss most about Racket though is that DrRacket gave an easy entry point for students which wasn&#x27;t &quot;and now start learning Emacs&quot;.  (Guix is pretty great, however.)