Line by line parsers are much much more limited. This can support syntax transformations and html attributes. This is more of an html-alternative in terms of capability. Markdown links are ugly and you need double space instead of single space for every space you input. I could do something like replace things nested in as italics but I'd rather have normal characters not turned into formatting. Lisp might look ugly in comparison to python, but not html and bbcode.

I used to think the same thing about Lisp syntax. I wondered how anyone could like it at all. For the last several years I've done a lot of coding in Scheme, and I have to admit, I've grown to really like it. I think the primary reason people dislike Lisp/Scheme-style syntax is that it is so very different than what they are used to. For years we've been programming in Algol-like syntaxes (C, C++, Java, etc) -- and when you're used to that, Lisp-like languages look so foreign that the natural response is often "ew! that looks awful!".

I know it's probably been said here multiple times before, but you really do get used to the parentheses, and eventually I think you'll even appreciate them (if you decide to really give Lisp or Scheme a chance).