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"Nested mixtures of }, ], and ) are very difficult to pick apart visually."

And nested ), ), and ) are easier to pick apart visually?

At least with }, ], and ) you know any given } matches a { and not a ( or a [. Whereas with all )'s, it's a lot harder (for me) to know which ( in a mountain of ('s it's going to match.

A good editor and proper indenting will, of course, mitigate some of the pain. But I'd MUCH rather have a mix of {'s, ['s, and ('s, than all ('s.



At least with }, ], and ) you know any given } matches a { and not a ( or a [. Whereas with all )'s, it's a lot harder (for me) to know which ( in a mountain of ('s it's going to match.

I have found the opposite. It's a lot easier to close with a bunch of )))s at the end of a line than to flip around with the )]}]))} line noise. I let my code's structure give me meaning. I am less concerned with matching things and more concerned with readable code arrangement. It is easier for me to read English-like words than a bunch of symbols. As a result, the ))s are almost equivalent whitespace with the exception that they provide useful and common structure.


paredit.


And nested ), ), and ) are easier to pick apart visually?

You don't have to pick them out in CL, just balance them. Much easier (IMO).


You don't have to pick them out or balance them in any lisp. That's what paredit is for.


So easy that a decent text editor can do the job.




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