this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2021
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Do you want to pick a programming language for me, Lemmy? ๐Ÿฑโ€๐Ÿ’ป (lemmy.ml)
submitted 4 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
27 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hi, everyone

TL;DR - post below your suggestion for a good programming language for an almost-rookie teacher/educator/writer to start using.

More info: I am trying to decide on which programming language to learn. I know my way around HTML and CSS from being active online, but haven't done much programming apart from this. I write, teach, and work with digital teaching/learning products a lot. In 2021, I think there will be plenty of time for me to start working with programming. I don't mean just "learn to code" - I mean using the language(s) as an educator/writer/publisher. Libre / open source context preferred. Which languages look like they fit the bill, Lemmy?

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[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 4 years ago (2 children)

LISP

It's easier to get into than you'd think -- and SICP (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, a seminal text) is written in Scheme, a Lisp. LISP

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 4 years ago (1 children)

Someone who is always eager to let you know that whatever it is you're doing would be done better in LispLanguage. Why? Don't ask, they can't explain it to the rest of us. The wise course is to stay clear and wait for them to go extinct.
Nonsense, they can and will explain it. Some of it isn't true, but a lot of it is.
[smug smug smug smug]
And whether they actually are able to explain it or not, quite often they will try. And this is not necessarily a good thing, depending on whether your ride's leaving.

http://wiki.c2.com/?SmugLispWeenie

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 4 years ago

LOLOL I'm definitely a convert! I'm not even mad, though; it's a meme for a reason

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (1 children) 
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
     ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
          ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
))))))))))))))))))))))
))))))))))))

If I can use the parenthesis in the way that keys or tags in XML are used (as true trees) then I will accept it.

However, this is not common nor the standard way which make examples harder to help with learning.

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 4 years ago (1 children)

AFAIK, you /can/ use the parentheses as tags in XML, ... but it's okay if it's not for you!

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 4 years ago (1 children)

I think you mean SXML which is a variation of XML with S-Expressions.

But what I mean is writting Lisp like a XML tree which would be pretty similar to SXML for readability.

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 4 years ago (1 children)

I actually haven't heard of SXML, so I meant regular lisp. For me, I just mean that this is pretty tree-based, so far as I can tell (I'm not an actual programmer, though, which might be the issue with my understanding):

(defun foo (bar baz)
  (if (predicate)
      (do if true)
    (do if false)))
[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 4 years ago* (last edited 4 years ago) (1 children)

This is an XML tree:

This is an SXML tree compared with an XHTML (XML based HTML) tree:

SXML uses the standard S-Expressions syntax but what I expect is being able to use more this:

(*TOP* 
  (@ 
    (*NAMESPACES* 
      (x "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml")
    )
  )
  (x:html 
    (@ 
      (xml:lang "en") 
      (lang "en")
    )
    (x:head
       (x:title "An example page")
    )
    (x:body
      (x:h1 
        (@ 
          (id "greeting")
        ) 
        "Hi, there"
      )
      (x:p  "This is just an >>example<< to show XHTML & SXML.")
    )
  )
)

I think that most people liking Lisp don't want to change the current formatting standard and maybe most of them have eagle view or a good "mind parser" but it is more readable for me writing like this. I can identify errors easily and I don't have to count the parenthesis as I have been doing for reading Scheme and Lisp basic programs well.

I also combine this with tabulation of 4 characters instead of soft-tabs (real white spaces) of 2 characters like some people do due to the JS influence.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 4 years ago (1 children)

Oh, well if you just mean a formatting thing -- you can format a source file however you want :) But yeah, that's not really the popular way to do it. For me, just the opening tags + indentation work well enough to delimit everything, but to each their own.