After I wrote that statement I started thinking that C programs can be formatted so that they don't read very well also. In C, an 'if' is always an 'if' (unless you use the pre-processor to screw it up) but in Lisp an 'if' could be anything. I do like the idea of Lisp macros where you can run a Lisp program at compile time to generate the code that is then compiled inline.
What I should have said was that Lisp has no commands or structure that can't be changed. Some might argue that this is it's strength but I have seen hundreds of samples of Lisp and it looks very confusing. I don't normally program in C# or Java or many other languages but I can normally understand their code. (Lisp and functional languages are the most opaque to me)
My language uses a byte code interpreter and that byte code is in polish prefix notation just like Lisp. I wouldn't want to code in my byte code either (even if the byte codes were replaced with keywords instead of the binary code). Polish prefix notation is great for the compiler but not very good for people.
What I should have said was that Lisp has no commands or structure that can't be changed. Some might argue that this is it's strength but I have seen hundreds of samples of Lisp and it looks very confusing. I don't normally program in C# or Java or many other languages but I can normally understand their code. (Lisp and functional languages are the most opaque to me)
My language uses a byte code interpreter and that byte code is in polish prefix notation just like Lisp. I wouldn't want to code in my byte code either (even if the byte codes were replaced with keywords instead of the binary code). Polish prefix notation is great for the compiler but not very good for people.