Uniform Structured Syntax, Metaprogramming and Run-Time Compilation
This is very impressive in only the way that lisp can be. But part of why it works is because SQL is a well defined interface. There was a comment on ltu a good while back:<p>------------<p>&quot;I would say that a system that allowed other metathings to be done in the ordinary course of programming (like changing what inheritance means, or what is an instance) is a bad design. (I believe that systems should allow these things, but the design should be such that there are clear fences that have to be crossed when serious extensions are made.)&quot;<p>The fact Kay realized this fine point of design in the late &#x27;60s (according to him) is why he is a Turing Award Winner.<p>I know Lisp programmers who even today don&#x27;t understand this point - their code is succinct but the API has a massively unnecessary learning curve due to unclear boundaries.<p>Sometimes my coworkers object to me paying extraordinary attention to detail about what the boundaries are. However, if we don&#x27;t pay attention to boundaries, we may as well all be Netron Fusion COBOL programmers munging VSAM records and EDI data formats.
By Z-Bo at Wed, 2009-04-15<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;lambda-the-ultimate.org&#x2F;node&#x2F;3265#comment-48165" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;lambda-the-ultimate.org&#x2F;node&#x2F;3265#comment-48165</a>