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Comment by bogomipz | Hacker News Reader

>"Many also don't even realize they have one built into their browser that is perfectly adequate for satisfying the desires to explore functional programming and general computation principles."

Are you referring to Javascript being a LISP dialect here? I've heard this occasionally but I also though that the one predominant feature of LISP was that of homoiconicity which I don't believe applies to Javascript or is that not correct? Thanks.

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JavaScript IS lisp with 1) a new syntax and 2) more things bolted on top that make it a non-LISP language. There are two things under the catagory of JavaScript. The Functional size and the Imperative side. It's the only language in the lisp family that allows you to write both, neither, or some combination in the same program. I say neither because other paradigms can be expressed from within JavaScript that will not be expressable in most FP and Imperative languages without some muscle involved in forcing it to do so.

Watch David C.'s talk on JavaScript the Good Parts to see this diamond in the rough.

> It's the only language in the lisp family that allows you to write both, neither, or some combination in the same program.

Where did you get that from?

Almost all Lisp dialects allow you to write functional and/or imperative code.

I will give this talk a watch, thanks.

I can't seem to find this talk anywhere on the internet.

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