Bel
Languages and libraries
programming language
SHOW HN2019
How HN took it
27 positive, 82 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 28 critical, out of 139 comments about the project. Thread score +0.02.
Design: 2 for, 15 againstIdea: 8 for, 7 againstDocs: 2 for, 3 againstPerformance: 2 for, 2 againstExecution: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Lisp-style exploratory programming and conciseness are valuable
From 2 comments
I remember reading pg's article on Lisp and startups, and at the time questioned if it was just mere luck. Then having a cursory look at Lisp, I questioned its relevance to the…
alfiedotwtf on HNI think the point of a high-level language is to make your programs shorter. All other things (e.g. libraries) being equal, language A is better than language B if programs are…
pg on HN
Objections
Parentheses make the syntax hard to read
From 1 comment
Wish I could have Lisp without all the parentheses. Parentheses just sour the experience for me.
m0zg on HN
Spec is operational rather than axiomatic, unclear semantics
From 1 comment
Reproduced from feedback that I gave pg on an earlier draft (omitting things he seems to have addressed): When you say, > But I also believe it will be possible to write…
dfranke on HN
Numbers are unclear: docs say no numbers but later use them
From 1 comment
``` Bel has four fundamental data types: symbols, pairs, characters, and streams. ``` No numbers? Then a bit further down it says: ``` (+ 1 2) returns 3 ``` Now suddenly there…
TekMol on HN
Requests
Clearer documentation of where and the primitives
From 2 comments
Reproduced from feedback that I gave pg on an earlier draft (omitting things he seems to have addressed): When you say, > But I also believe it will be possible to write…
dfranke on HN> 5. (where x) > Evaluates x. If its value comes from a pair, returns a list of that pair and either a or d depending on whether the value is stored in the car or cdr. Signals an…
rntz on HN
Questions
How does Bel relate to Arc?
From 1 comment
How does this relate to Arc?
arketyp on HN
Why use Lisp and how to start learning it
From 1 comment
I can't say I'm familiar with Lisp (or its dialects). How does one get started learning a Lisp variant (in terms of learning resources/guides), and why use Lisp over other…
applecrazy on HN
How to represent pi and irrational numbers
From 1 comment
If Bel doesn't have irrational numbers, how do I use pi? Define a function that returns an approximation to a given precision?
shpx on HN
Alternatives named
Arc
From 1 comment
How does this relate to Arc?
arketyp on HN
Scheme and Common Lisp
From 2 comments
I remember reading pg's article on Lisp and startups, and at the time questioned if it was just mere luck. Then having a cursory look at Lisp, I questioned its relevance to the…
alfiedotwtf on HNI think the point of a high-level language is to make your programs shorter. All other things (e.g. libraries) being equal, language A is better than language B if programs are…
pg on HN