Ask HN: How Lisp way of programming is better than that of other languages? - bhnmmhmd
======
daly
You have a problem to solve. You can state the problem in your native language
(e.g. English). You need a computer program that solves it.

You can use a low-level programming language (e.g. assembler) which is very
close to the machine. Or you can use a high-level programming language that is
very close to the problem statement (e.g. Planner). Lisp allows you to do both
at once. You can write something like (integrate (car x))... that is, you take
the 0th offset from a memory pointer (car) and compute a high level function
(integrate). Lisp is "clay for the mind". You can shape it to fit your
problem.

This is the "impedence mismatch" problem (like hooking a soda straw to a fire
hose). Most programming languages are a mismatch of your problem and a
mismatch of your solution. Lisp allows you to alter Lisp to fit both the
problem and the solution. It is a "programmable programming language".

