Re: APL and LISP

[Alan Bawden <ALAN at MIT-MC>]

    Date: 11 Nov 1980 (Tuesday) 0300-EDT
    From: SHRAGE at WHARTON (Jeffrey Shrager)

    ...  Rather, we are arguing a subject that I might call, in the
    recent style of SIGPLAN: "Uncontrolled extensibilty considered
    harmful."

Indeed, this argument seems very much like the "GOTO considered
harmfull" arguments to me.  A language without GOTO is a cripple,
despite any "elegance" you gain by removing it.  Whatever it is that
you propose to do to "control" the extensibility of Lisp can only harm
it.  Just like with GOTO, if you want a truely powerfull language, then
you have to leave in the parts that are capable of producing uglyness.