

Programming as Theory Building (by Naur of BNF) - gruseom
http://www.zafar.se/bkz/Articles/NaurProgrammingTheory

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BrandonM
Reading this article gave me insight into the interaction that typically
occurs in Lisp discussions, where someone will present sample code where they
are having a problem and requesting a solution. Instead of getting the answer
they expect, what they typically receive is an explanation of why that is not
"the Lisp way". On the surface, this looks like nitpicking, but when you look
at it from the _Programming as Theory Building_ viewpoint, it is clear that
the respondents are more versed in the theory of Lisp and are merely trying to
enrich the original requester with the same enlightenment.

In general, I thought the article was excellent, as it voiced many of the
ideas that I've seen pg express in his likening of Lisp programming to working
with clay, as well as many of my own insights of what programming actually
means to me. Unfortunately, it also helps to justify my constant rewriting of
my code to make it more elegant, as any mathematician would be expected to do
the same. While this may be a good intellectual exercise, it's not necessarily
good for getting stuff done.

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rapind
I'm with ya on rewriting code to make it cleaner. Maybe it's OCD, but who
cares. It's one of the joys of coding to me. And yeah, sometimes it's costly,
but sometimes it's very beneficial, and regardless it's like an itch.

