add 1 and 2 and 3
The syntax is a bit terse but if you teach people a good way to read it it becomes much more readable than 1+2+3
The only reason we prefer that way is that we are thought that syntax when we do math in school, I have found it much easier to teach people lisp who have no or very little formal education in math.
(/ (+ (- b) (sqrt (- (* b b) (* 4 a c)))) (* 2 a))
Right, that's much easier than
(-b + sqrt(b*b - 4*a*c)) / (2*a)
I see you omitted some parenthesis in the "conventional" expression, relying on the fact that multiplication takes priority over substraction. Making this fact explicit is exactly what makes Lisp better, especially for more complex domains: delegating priorities to the notation, freeing brain capacity for the actual problem.
(defun foo (a b c)
#I(
(-b + sqrt(b*b - 4*a*c)) / (2*a)
))
CL-USER 8 > (foo 1 2 3)
#C(-1.0 1.4142135)It may be bikeshedding, but I would not let 'blue is better than red, because the sky is blue' pass either.
(/ (+ (- b)
(sqrt (- (* b b)
(* 4 a c))))
(* 2 a))
* there's a quotient of 2 things
* the first thing is a sum of -b and a sqrt
* the second thing is a product
and so on. Pretty nice. Of course, mathematical notation is more terse.