> But I could easily argue the brain is bad at juggling rules. The more rules, the more likely mistakes.
The brain isn't great at LEARNING rules, but the vast majority of programming languages use more rules than Lisp, and since most people use those other languages instead, it's clearly possible to learn more rules than the ones Lisp provides. Indeed, Lisp's syntax currently insists that you not use infix notation, which means in practice people have to learn a new syntax. Practically every other language (with the exception of Forth) supports infix notation.
The "$" has essentially the same meaning as Haskell, so if you know Haskell's rule, you already know it. The "blank line ends the block" is what most people would assume anyway. The <* ... *> ones are unusual, but they don't take long to learn or master, and counter a complaint about indentation ("stuff marches off to the right").
It's hard to argue preferences. Ideally we'd have some scientific studies really examine these kinds of issues! Sadly, those kinds of studies are in short supply.
The brain isn't great at LEARNING rules, but the vast majority of programming languages use more rules than Lisp, and since most people use those other languages instead, it's clearly possible to learn more rules than the ones Lisp provides. Indeed, Lisp's syntax currently insists that you not use infix notation, which means in practice people have to learn a new syntax. Practically every other language (with the exception of Forth) supports infix notation.
The "$" has essentially the same meaning as Haskell, so if you know Haskell's rule, you already know it. The "blank line ends the block" is what most people would assume anyway. The <* ... *> ones are unusual, but they don't take long to learn or master, and counter a complaint about indentation ("stuff marches off to the right").
It's hard to argue preferences. Ideally we'd have some scientific studies really examine these kinds of issues! Sadly, those kinds of studies are in short supply.
Thanks for the commentary.