Nobody claimed Lisp syntax was optimal for math papers. Neither is C syntax. The Lisp syntax does have advantages for program source code. Sure, it has disadvantages too. Everything is a compromise.<p>The Lisp syntax is so incredibly controversial, and that fact itself is incredibly strange to me. I see it as a pragmatic engineering decision: let&#x27;s represent source code as syntax trees, and then sophisticated editing modes become straightforward, macros become straightforward, and the syntax becomes very uniform.<p>This big thread indicates another reason Lisp isn&#x27;t popular: because people keep arguing back and forth about the textual syntax, rather than discussing actual experiences with using it.