Comments on: Powershell as Lisp http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/powershell-as-lisp/ Your daily IT cuppa Sun, 23 Jan 2011 07:05:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Kaveh Shahbazian http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/powershell-as-lisp/comment-page-1/#comment-7111 Kaveh Shahbazian Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:25:45 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=509#comment-7111 I do not quite understand when somebody says 'Lisp has no syntax'. For sure you have to be fluent at 'watching s-expressions' all day and that will do a big part for you (I have heard there are some masters that actually have touched the 'brightness' and do not see the parentheses anymore ;), I do not know lisp fluently; I have just played around some of them long time ago (and a bit of Clojure recently). What about all that operators (!) that influence scope of an expression, for example in a macro (like , or ' which I do not remember their exact meanings (Oops! There are some syntax to forget here!))? I am not speaking of Clojure since it has a bit more syntax than other Lisps (At least to me). 'Lisp has no syntax' is not a very precise sentence to me. At best I can say 'Lisp has the most assumptions about developer' - if there is no syntax! I do not quite understand when somebody says ‘Lisp has no syntax’. For sure you have to be fluent at ‘watching s-expressions’ all day and that will do a big part for you (I have heard there are some masters that actually have touched the ‘brightness’ and do not see the parentheses anymore ;) , I do not know lisp fluently; I have just played around some of them long time ago (and a bit of Clojure recently).

What about all that operators (!) that influence scope of an expression, for example in a macro (like , or ‘ which I do not remember their exact meanings (Oops! There are some syntax to forget here!))? I am not speaking of Clojure since it has a bit more syntax than other Lisps (At least to me).

‘Lisp has no syntax’ is not a very precise sentence to me. At best I can say ‘Lisp has the most assumptions about developer’ – if there is no syntax!

]]> By: Dave Creelman http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/powershell-as-lisp/comment-page-1/#comment-7110 Dave Creelman Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:16:55 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=509#comment-7110 I must confess that I don't know what a cmdlet is, but how does the addition of a feature such as this warrant calling powershell a lisp ? Does it use the paradigm of code is data is code ? Does it have macros that use this paradigm? This seems to happen a lot with the latest hot language on the scene. Quite often one comes across articles with titles like "Ruby is an acceptable Lisp" or "Javascript is the new lisp". These articles seem to miss the point that Lisp is a bit different. Lisp doesn't really have a syntax. It looks like powershell has a syntax, so I'd say it's not lisp. If it doesn't then I think a more apt title might be "Powershell Useful" or even "Powershel Domain specific languages", but not "Powershell as Lisp". Just my 2c worth. Hope you do get lots out of PowerShell v2.0 and you can develop some useful DSLs, but I don't know if it's the same "as lisp". I must confess that I don’t know what a cmdlet is, but how does the addition of a feature such as this warrant calling powershell a lisp ?

Does it use the paradigm of code is data is code ?
Does it have macros that use this paradigm?

This seems to happen a lot with the latest hot language on the scene. Quite often one comes across articles with titles like “Ruby is an acceptable Lisp” or “Javascript is the new lisp”. These articles seem to miss the point that Lisp is a bit different. Lisp doesn’t really have a syntax. It looks like powershell has a syntax, so I’d say it’s not lisp.

If it doesn’t then I think a more apt title might be “Powershell Useful” or even “Powershel Domain specific languages”, but not “Powershell as Lisp”.

Just my 2c worth.

Hope you do get lots out of PowerShell v2.0 and you can develop some useful DSLs, but I don’t know if it’s the same “as lisp”.

]]> By: Jack Hughes http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/powershell-as-lisp/comment-page-1/#comment-7107 Jack Hughes Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:37:43 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=509#comment-7107 @Jeffrey - I am currently finishing off a time series database for PowerShell V1 so you may be confident that I'll be looking into V2 real soon! @Jeffrey – I am currently finishing off a time series database for PowerShell V1 so you may be confident that I’ll be looking into V2 real soon!

]]> By: Jeffrey Snover http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/powershell-as-lisp/comment-page-1/#comment-7106 Jeffrey Snover Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:38:24 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/?p=509#comment-7106 You got it. If you look at what we put into V2, there are a TON of features that help with meta-programming. The ability to write cmdlets in PowerShell is the foundation of it all. Check out SPLATTING and ProxyCmdlets. You'll be shocked at the power. Experiment! Enjoy! Engage! Jeffrey Snover [MSFT] Windows Management Partner Architect Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at: http://blogs.msdn.com/PowerShell Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx You got it. If you look at what we put into V2, there are a TON of features that help with meta-programming. The ability to write cmdlets in PowerShell is the foundation of it all. Check out SPLATTING and ProxyCmdlets. You’ll be shocked at the power.

Experiment! Enjoy! Engage!

Jeffrey Snover [MSFT]
Windows Management Partner Architect
Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at: http://blogs.msdn.com/PowerShell
Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx

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