From: Joe Van Dyk <joevandyk@...>
Date: 2005-09-27T12:58:35+09:00
Subject: Re: Fwd: Lisp macros

On 9/26/05, Michael Schuerig <michael@schuerig.de> wrote:
> James Britt wrote:
>
> > Joe Van Dyk wrote:
> >> Whoops, this belongs on ruby-talk... Sorry.
> >
> > I trust the accidental exposure to Lisp wasn't too traumatizing.
> >
> > Anyway, there have been sporadic discussions both here and on
> > ruby-core
> > about adding true Lisp-style macros to Ruby.  My understanding is that
> > while Ruby can do assorted flips and twists, it cannot do quite the
> > same sort of things as found in Lisp (and I hope a true Lisper here
> > can elaborate on this); I also believe that Matz is less than enamored
> > with idea of adding this to Ruby (and I hope a true Matz can elaborate
> > on this, too).
>
> I'm neither a true Matz nor a true Lisper. The basic facility Lisp
> macros offer over what is available in Ruby is that they do *not*
> evaluate their arguments. Where this is not an issue, you can get very
> far with what is there in Ruby.

Thank you!

Does Lisp have any other advantages over Ruby that I should be looking
for?  When would I want to use Lisp over Ruby?