Nasty Lisp meme
Jonathan
Whenever I see a row of right parens together, eg like this "(cons sym
nil))))))" - my brain translates the rights parens into a sort of "boing"
sound of the type comic books use when something springy is happening. I
asked a friend whether he had the same problem and he said, no, he didn't.
But when I saw him again an hour later, the meme had got him too, and he was
now hearing the boing. It's really very annoying. Does anyone else have this
problem?
Jonathan Coupe
thi
the general problem (perceiving parens in the first place) will go away
after a while. no worries.
thi
Vassil Nikolov
Jonathan wrote:
> Ever since I started to learn Lisp, I've had this really nasty problem:
> Whenever I see a row of right parens together, eg like this "(cons sym
> nil))))))" - my brain translates the rights parens into a sort of "boing"
> sound of the type comic books use when something springy is happening. I
> asked a friend whether he had the same problem and he said, no, he didn't.
> But when I saw him again an hour later, the meme had got him too, and he was
> now hearing the boing. It's really very annoying. Does anyone else have this
> problem?
I'd say there are two ways to perceive right parentheses in Lisp:
* not pay much attention to them but instead rely on indentation to
determine where lists end, which is the usual case;
* use one of the several ways to have the editor show the left
parenthesis that matches a specific right parenthesis (the one
at the cursor position, where the latter phrase means e.g. `to the
left of the point in Emacs').
If none of the above were available, perhaps right parentheses would
be a problem (until people developed the appropriate tools, of course).
Vassil Nikolov
Permanent forwarding e-mail: vnik...@poboxes.com
For more: http://www.poboxes.com/vnikolov
Abaci lignei --- programmatici ferrei.
Kent M Pitman
> my brain translates the rights parens into a sort of "boing"
> sound of the type comic books use when something springy is happening.
It's saving you from an "ouch" noise which you'd hear if you
ran into the end of the buffer without closing them.
It may help to notice that sometimes in the cartoons the boing
noise is helpful, not hurtful. For example, if you're falling off
a cliff with a bungee cord attached. Not hearing the "boing" can
be annoying.
Tom Breton
> nil))))))" - my brain translates the rights parens into a sort of "boing"
> sound of the type comic books use when something springy is happening. I
> asked a friend whether he had the same problem and he said, no, he didn't.
> But when I saw him again an hour later, the meme had got him too, and he was
> now hearing the boing. It's really very annoying. Does anyone else have this
> problem?
No, despite your attempt to give it to us. }:)
Don't worry, it'll wear off after a while. I would think it would be
harder to *remember* to always hear "boiing".
--
Tom Breton, http://world.std.com/~tob
Ugh-free Spelling (no "gh") http://world.std.com/~tob/ugh-free.html
Jonathan
>It may help to notice that sometimes in the cartoons the boing
>noise is helpful, not hurtful. For example, if you're falling off
>a cliff with a bungee cord attached. Not hearing the "boing" can
>be annoying.
Especially to the person who has to clean up afterwards - which is just like
most software projects I've been on, come to think of it....
Jonathan Coupe
Jonathan
Tom Breton wrote in message ...
>"Jonathan" <jona...@meanwhile.freeserve.co.uk> writes:
>
>> nil))))))" - my brain translates the rights parens into a sort of
"boing"
>> sound of the type comic books use when something springy is happening. I
>> asked a friend whether he had the same problem and he said, no, he
didn't.
>> But when I saw him again an hour later, the meme had got him too, and he
was
>> now hearing the boing. It's really very annoying. Does anyone else have
this
>> problem?
>
>No, despite your attempt to give it to us. }:)
It's not me, honestly - it's the meme. Although your }:) looks *much*
worse - that's the sound breakfast cereal makes when a cat treads on it,
right?
Jonathan
Reini Urban
(people actually complained about supporting better editors
with syntax coloring and paren flashing!)
people don't hear this single "boiing" sound,
it's more like counting loudly "1-2-3-2-3-well",
raising and lowering the sound as in "do-re-mi-fa-so-la-si-do".
people became actually brilliant counters, which was helpful in doing
the mass calculations. ("please could you count the screws for me")
test:
(remove-if
'(lambda (seg)
(equalp (x-of (car l)) (x-of (car seg))))
rfound)
"1-2-3! 2-3-4-5! 3-4-5! 1-okay"
up low up!low up!low
"Jonathan" <jona...@meanwhile.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>Ever since I started to learn Lisp, I've had this really nasty problem:
>Whenever I see a row of right parens together, eg like this "(cons sym
>nil))))))" - my brain translates the rights parens into a sort of "boing"
>sound of the type comic books use when something springy is happening. I
>asked a friend whether he had the same problem and he said, no, he didn't.
>But when I saw him again an hour later, the meme had got him too, and he was
>now hearing the boing. It's really very annoying. Does anyone else have this
>problem?
--
Reini Urban, rur...@x-ray.at http://www.x-ray.at/
Steve Long
>
> Ever since I started to learn Lisp, I've had this really nasty problem:
> Whenever I see a row of right parens together, eg like this "(cons sym
> nil))))))" - my brain translates the rights parens into a sort of "boing"
> sound of the type comic books use when something springy is happening. I
> asked a friend whether he had the same problem and he said, no, he didn't.
> But when I saw him again an hour later, the meme had got him too, and he was
> now hearing the boing. It's really very annoying. Does anyone else have this
> problem?
>
Weird. I hear a "Boeing" sound all day long. And I do hear someone whispering
"pound-tick-lambda" in the background.
Switch to C++ and tell us how }}}}}}}}}}}}} sounds.
sl
Jens Kilian
> "1-2-3! 2-3-4-5! 3-4-5! 1-okay"
[Flash of inspiration]
That's it! That's what the singers in "Einstein on the Beach"[1] are doing,
counting parentheses!
;-)
Jens.
[1] An opera by Philip Glass; a large part of the text consists of strings
of digits. "1 2 3 4 5 6, <pause> 2 3 4 5 6, <pause> 2 3 4 5 6 7 8" etc.
--
mailto:j...@acm.org phone:+49-7031-14-7698 (HP TELNET 778-7698)
http://www.bawue.de/~jjk/ fax:+49-7031-14-7351
PGP: 06 04 1C 35 7B DC 1F 26 As the air to a bird, or the sea to a fish,
0x555DA8B5 BB A2 F0 66 77 75 E1 08 so is contempt to the contemptible. [Blake]
Jeff Dalton
> > Ever since I started to learn Lisp, I've had this really nasty problem:
> > Whenever I see a row of right parens together, eg like this "(cons sym
> > nil))))))" - my brain translates the rights parens into a sort of "boing"
> > sound of the type comic books use when something springy is happening.
> Switch to C++ and tell us how }}}}}}}}}}}}} sounds.
Of course, it's normally written like this
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
which sound like ...?
Barry Margolin
Jeff Dalton <je...@todday.aiai.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
>Steve Long <stephen...@boeing.com> writes:
>> Switch to C++ and tell us how }}}}}}}}}}}}} sounds.
>
>Of course, it's normally written like this
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
>}
>
>which sound like ...?
The first thing that comes to mind is "Aaaahhhhh!!!!" -- the sound of
someone screaming as they fall off a precipice.
--
Barry Margolin, bar...@bbnplanet.com
GTE Internetworking, Powered by BBN, Burlington, MA
*** DON'T SEND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO ME, post them to newsgroups.
Please DON'T copy followups to me -- I'll assume it wasn't posted to the group.
Kent M Pitman
>
> Steve Long <stephen...@boeing.com> writes:
>
> > > Ever since I started to learn Lisp, I've had this really nasty problem:
> > > Whenever I see a row of right parens together, eg like this "(cons sym
> > > nil))))))" - my brain translates the rights parens into a sort of "boing"
> > > sound of the type comic books use when something springy is happening.
>
> > Switch to C++ and tell us how }}}}}}}}}}}}} sounds.
>
> Of course, it's normally written like this
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
>
> which sound like ...?
Ok, I'll take a stab at this ...
Sounds like a "diagonalization" of the space of programs. A
concession to the "real" world of programs. Perhaps there is a larger
infinity of C programs than Lisp programs, which programs are only
"rational", as we all know, and so perhaps are among a space of only
countably many rational programs--unlike the uncountably many losing C
programs. C programmers, I'd conclude, work hard to pick up the
"irrational" ones along the way, and these little diagonals are just
telltale hints of their desire to do that.
;-)
Erik Naggum
| Of course, it's normally written like this
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
|
| which sound like ...?
Chinese water torture?
#:Erik
--
@1999-07-22T00:37:33Z -- pi billion seconds since the turn of the century
Michael Dingler
>
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
>
> which sound like ...?
"Captain Adama, the Cylon fighters are approaching!"
...Michael...
Martin Rodgers
bar...@bbnplanet.com says...
> The first thing that comes to mind is "Aaaahhhhh!!!!" -- the sound of
> someone screaming as they fall off a precipice.
Same here. Code like that gives me verigo, whatever the
language. I don't like nesting too deep, but others don't seem
to mind. Perhaps they use crampons of whatever they're called.
I also don't like functions that span multiple pages, and the
examples that I find in other people's code (not usually Lisp)
also tends to nest deeply.
Examples like the one given earlier, "(cons sym nil))))))",
are not uncommon in Lisp, but I think this is because the use
of prefix instead of infix exposes makes certain relationships
in expressions explicit instead of implicit.
Other things, like type info, may be more implicit. This is a
fine trade, as far as I'm concerned.
--
Remove insect from address | You can never browse enough
will write code that writes code that writes code for food
http://www.wildcard.demon.co.uk
Tom Kramer
| Of course, it's normally written like this
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
| }
|
| which sound like ...?
It goes honk, honk.
Tom Kramer
William Deakin
or SCHHHEEEECH like baby seagulls at 4:40am
and i should know.
Cheers,
Will
Fernando Mato Mira
Tom Kramer wrote:
> * Jeff Dalton <je...@todday.aiai.ed.ac.uk>
> | Of course, it's normally written like this
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> |
> | which sound like ...?
>
> This is half of a flock of geese in V-formation.
> It goes honk, honk.
Looks more like bats to me.
Vassil Nikolov
Tom Kramer wrote:
> * Jeff Dalton <je...@todday.aiai.ed.ac.uk>
> | Of course, it's normally written like this
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> | }
> |
> | which sound like ...?
>
> This is half of a flock of geese in V-formation.
[...]
Wild geese chased by the programmer?
Duane Rettig
> On 1999-07-06 13:08 +0000,
> Tom Kramer wrote:
>
> > * Jeff Dalton <je...@todday.aiai.ed.ac.uk>
> > | Of course, it's normally written like this
> > | }
> > | }
> > | }
> > | }
> > | }
> > | }
> > | }
> > | }
> > | }
> > | }
> > | }
> > | }
> > | }
> > |
> > | which sound like ...?
> >
> > This is half of a flock of geese in V-formation.
> [...]
>
> Wild geese chased by the programmer?
No, chasing the programmer.
Ever been bitten by a goose? Wild or not, it hurts.
:-)
--
Duane Rettig Franz Inc. http://www.franz.com/ (www)
1995 University Ave Suite 275 Berkeley, CA 94704
Phone: (510) 548-3600; FAX: (510) 548-8253 du...@Franz.COM (internet)
Paolo Amoroso
wrote:
> Of course, it's normally written like this
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
> }
>
> which sound like ...?
Is this a sort of inkblot test for programmers? :-)
Paolo
--
Paolo Amoroso <amo...@mclink.it>
Martin Rodgers
> Is this a sort of inkblot test for programmers? :-)
If it is, then I'd say it looks like an invisible cascade thread.
Alternatelly, it might be an extensible mexican wave. If it changes
direction, we could call it reflective.