newLisp does not have nested contexts. This is because contexts are not OO-style objects, although they can be used to prototype other contexts. In fact, contexts are name spaces that can be manually created as needed. However, since they create efficient hashes that can be used for many of the same purposes as objects (such as data modeling), it would be handy if there were a way to create contexts inside of other contexts. Read More...

newLisp is a loosely-typed language. However, if you are developing a library or module that other projects may mix into their own code, it is useful to give helpful errors when a function receives incorrect input. Especially if your documentation is lax (which we know it never is), throwing usable errors when a function is misused will make the lives of developers using your code that much easier. Read More...

When I first began to program newLisp, I was concerned that it lacked the structured error handling syntax of the imperative languages I was used to. As my software begins to mature and I add more sophisticated error handling, I find that newLisp's simple functions result in cleaner, more expressive code. Read More...

There is an interesting article at Irrational Exuberance about anti-objects and reflective design. The author states, "The first– and only– programming paradigm I was taught at college was OO." Another recent blog post by a college CS tutor laments that object oriented design is the first (and often, the only) abstraction method taught to students in computer science programs. Read More...

Paul Graham notes that, "A popular recipe for new programming languages in the past 20 years has been to take the C model of computing and add to it, piecemeal, parts taken from the Lisp model, like runtime typing and garbage collection." This is what has made Python such a wonderful, elegant, and concise language. Why say with iteration what can be done in one easily readable line with a list comprehension? Read More...

Why's Poignant Guide claims that after learning Ruby you will write code so elegant it will make you cry. Paul Graham was not so dramatic, but he was closer to the mark. Lisp teaches you the elegance and grace of recursive and applicative programming. This creates beautiful and concise code. Read More...