Re: Cool and Useful LISP for the .emacs file

[Jesper Harder]

Alan Mackenzie<none@example.invalid> writes:

> Burton Samograd <kruhft@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> From my experience, switching to lisp is a bit more work than the other
>> way around, due to the type of people that helped shape lisp in the
>> first place.  C and UNIX were developed around the "worse is better"
>> type philosophy, where LISPy systems were more focused on the
>> consistent and perfect side.
>
> All due respect, and everything, but the above is incoherent nonsense.
> "Worse is better"?  What's that supposed to mean?

It's an expression coined by Richard P. Gabriel (a Lisp hacker) while
trying to explain why C and Unix became so popular even though they
(in his view) were technically inferior to The Right Thing, i.e. Lisp.

See

    <http://www.dreamsongs.com/WorseIsBetter.html>

for more details.