Comments on: The most ironic logical proposition on the internet http://blog.tmorris.net/the-most-ironic-logical-proposition-on-the-internet/ The weblog of Tony Morris Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:33:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Tony Morris http://blog.tmorris.net/the-most-ironic-logical-proposition-on-the-internet/#comment-571 Tony Morris Sat, 23 Dec 2006 03:52:25 +0000 http://blog.tmorris.net/the-most-ironic-logical-proposition-on-the-internet/#comment-571 Correct me if I am wrong, but I interpret that claim as Lisp being "simply the most powerful language available". Correct me if I am wrong, but I interpret that claim as Lisp being “simply the most powerful language available”.

]]> By: Slava Pestov http://blog.tmorris.net/the-most-ironic-logical-proposition-on-the-internet/#comment-570 Slava Pestov Sat, 23 Dec 2006 01:56:15 +0000 http://blog.tmorris.net/the-most-ironic-logical-proposition-on-the-internet/#comment-570 Does Graham say Lisp is powerful, or Lisp is the most powerful? Anyway don't read too deeply into Graham's ramblings, they're more entertainment than statements of fact. He regularly contradicts himself and says things which make no sense at all. Does Graham say Lisp is powerful, or Lisp is the most powerful? Anyway don’t read too deeply into Graham’s ramblings, they’re more entertainment than statements of fact. He regularly contradicts himself and says things which make no sense at all.

]]> By: Daniel Lyons http://blog.tmorris.net/the-most-ironic-logical-proposition-on-the-internet/#comment-569 Daniel Lyons Fri, 22 Dec 2006 06:32:43 +0000 http://blog.tmorris.net/the-most-ironic-logical-proposition-on-the-internet/#comment-569 Well, from the context about the power continuum, what he's saying is that the most weird programming language is the most powerful. This makes sense to some of us from the experiences of our lives: SNOBOL looked weirder than BASIC and was more powerful, Python weirder than that and was more powerful, and now learning OCaml, Haskell, Erlang, seeing that they seem weirder even than Lisp, which was pretty damn weird in its own right. Of course it's a logical fallacy though, because there are also languages like INTERCAL and J, which clearly aren't more powerful but are definitely weird looking. And anyway, there are tens of thousands of programming languages out there; so many, it would be impossible to be abreast of all of them all the time. So you are right -- the assertion would only hold if Graham knew something about every language. Which of course he doesn't -- he's too happy with Lisp! Thanks for taking PG to task on this. :) Well, from the context about the power continuum, what he’s saying is that the most weird programming language is the most powerful. This makes sense to some of us from the experiences of our lives: SNOBOL looked weirder than BASIC and was more powerful, Python weirder than that and was more powerful, and now learning OCaml, Haskell, Erlang, seeing that they seem weirder even than Lisp, which was pretty damn weird in its own right.

Of course it’s a logical fallacy though, because there are also languages like INTERCAL and J, which clearly aren’t more powerful but are definitely weird looking. And anyway, there are tens of thousands of programming languages out there; so many, it would be impossible to be abreast of all of them all the time. So you are right — the assertion would only hold if Graham knew something about every language. Which of course he doesn’t — he’s too happy with Lisp!

Thanks for taking PG to task on this. :)

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