Lisp, Smalltalk, and the power of symmetry (2014)
There&#x27;s something magically expressive about S-expressions and processing them. For a linguistic project I was thinking about how to represent sentence syntax as data and then I came across Chomsky&#x27;s phrase structure analysis[1] which parses spoken language exactly like S-expressions in LISP! It&#x27;s even illustrated with parenthesis or syntax trees, just like the old SICP vids explain. The phrase structure even uses recursive definitions so processing and inflecting the content of sentences can be done with recursive functions etc, (I did it in TypeScript) like something following a design exercise out of HTDP&#x2F;SICP. I think the inherent parallel between human language phrase structure and S-expressions is beautiful.<p>[1]: This book introduces the phrase structure in a shockingly LISP-like way.  
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Grammar-Frank-Palmer&#x2F;dp&#x2F;B000S5VSAS" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Grammar-Frank-Palmer&#x2F;dp&#x2F;B000S5VSAS</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Phrase_structure_rules" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Phrase_structure_rules</a>