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1 point by evanrmurphy 5119 days ago | link | parent

> but sadly I have nothing useful to say here since it's built atop lisp

Maybe your exploration of nil vs '() could be useful here. [1]

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[1] http://arclanguage.org/item?id=11723



1 point by shader 5119 days ago | link

That's true. Any decisions affecting the core and the reasoning behind them would be useful at this point.

In fact, it would be really interesting to hear more from pg explaining some of the cryptic comments in the original source and some of the deviations of the current arc from the designs that he outlined in his earlier essays. If the explanation for most of them turns out to be "it was easier" or "it looked better" that's ok, I just wonder some times whether shortcuts and aesthetics explain the difference, or whether there were some deeper, hard-earned insights involved.

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1 point by akkartik 5119 days ago | link

At least for nil vs () and a couple of other issues, I've tramped up and down over the territory and reassured myself that there aren't any huge subtleties. I've also tried to ensure (github, unit tests) that any subtleties I find are exposed to anybody following.

Arc really is that simple :)

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1 point by akkartik 5119 days ago | link

Ah, good point, thanks for the suggestion. Here's a more recent snapshot: http://arclanguage.org/item?id=12661

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