Reading Lisp

Well, when you know what the functions are that you are looking at, it makes it a bit easier to read. So it will get better with time. Still, I prefer to do what most people don't and at least try to structure/format the code so that it is readable... and use comments...



That sort of thing. A lot of people don't bother with superfluous whitespace.

EDIT: Fixed rogue parenthesis at end of cond.

[Edited by - smitty1276 on September 5, 2006 8:27:18 PM]

I think it is something that largely comes with exposure. It was for me.

Obviously, using an editor that highlights matching parentheses is a necessity.

Definately (what Brandon said) * 2. It's worth installing cygwin with xemacs for doing lisp.

Alright. That sure does help. Thanks guys.

Quote:

Original post by Anonymous Poster Formatting lisp like that is a surefire way to: 1) Never be able to read any other lispers' code. 2) Guarantee no lisper will ever want to read yours. There is a standard way of formatting lisp, with only minor deviations. Use it.

I didn't claim to be a lisp expert. That's just how I like to format mine in the extremely rare cases that I must use lisp. But, now that you mention it, I would probably put the closing parenthesis at the end of the previous line, not on its own line. I'm not sure where that came from.

But whether the extra whitespace is normally used or not, I feel very strongly that formatting this way is inarguably superior. [grin] I would be interested in hearing an explanation of how NO formatting (aside from indentation) is easier to read.