[Haskell-cafe] Haskell versus Lisp

[Wolfgang Jeltsch]

Am Freitag, 16. September 2005 17:42 schrieb Mark Carter:
> Wolfgang Jeltsch wrote:
> >Am Freitag, 16. September 2005 15:06 schrieb Mark Carter:
> >>Plus you can use macros to extend the language.
> >
> >I don't know really about LISP macros but aren't they a bit like Template
>
> I wrote a Lisp macro once, and realised that it had a power that I
> hadn't seen before (the actual problem I was trying to solve that I
> wanted a logger that, given a variable, printed its name and value).
> That represented my one dip into Lisp macros, so it's fair to say that
> I'm not qualified to talk on either of Lisp or Haskells metaprogramming
> facilities. All I know is, if Haskell Templates provide no greater power
> than those of C++, be prepared for the Lispers to be, shall we say,
> "somewhat condescending" about them. ;)

I could imagine that Template Haskell has greater power than C++ templates but 
I'm really no expert here.  But one shouldn't think, the more power, the 
better.  In Java you have the "power" to insert objects of totally different 
classes into one list.  I don't think that this is a good thing.

Best wishes,
Wolfgang