Subject: Re: LISP and C++ From: Erik Naggum <> Date: 1999/10/29
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <>  * Janos Blazi | Is it
correct to say that the basic difference between C type
languages | and LISP is that in LISP we get runtime information
about the type of an | object and in C we do not.    no.  the
basic difference is that a Lisp treats code as data (and has
stuff in it that makes this possible, such as type information),
while in   C, never the twain shall meet (because all you need
to know, the compiler   took with it when it left the scene).  |
And that we have to decide if the addtional power we get is
worth the | price?    what price?  it's C that costs extra.
ever seen how expensive it is to   _know_ the type of an object
in C code?  they invented CORBA and IDL to   do this.  seen
SGML/HTML/XML?  they tried to figure out this "how to
represent structured stuff in text" question that Lisp solved in
1960   with READ and PRINT that worked on lists.  it amazes me
that people can't   see beyo