> Lisp has jokingly been called "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer". I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavor of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.
LISP's syntax is so atrocious that I never understood its popularity. LISP's possibility to introduce higher-order functions was mentioned several times in its defence, but now I come to think of it, that could be done in ALGOL60 as well. My current guess is that LISP's popularity in the USA is related to FORTRAN's shortcomings.
The memo you're quoting[1] is a lot milder about Lisp, but doesn't come across as the ramblings of a "Smug Lisp Weenie" (disclaimer: I'm currently having a lot of fun playing around with Clojure, so I might not be entirely objective).
> Lisp has jokingly been called "the most intelligent way to misuse a computer". I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavor of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts.