[dlweinreb]

In practice, it's just not a problem, because your interactive development environment takes care of it for you. I think the idea that anyone should be expected to program by using something with the power of Microsoft Notepad is an obsolete view. GNU Emacs with Lisp mode makes it very easy to work with the parentheses.

Meanwhile, we have no "dangling else" problem. Also, we have no need to memorize C's 15 levels of operator precedence, so when you see an expression, you never have to puzzle over how the items are grouped. In simple cases of C expressions, of course, it's easy, but it can get complicated. See "Java Puzzlers" by Josh Bloch and Neal Gafter to see how C/Java-style syntax can get you into trouble and fool you. There are pros and cons to each approach (C/Java and Lisp). I've used all of them extensively, and I prefer the Lisp way.

[stefano]

I agree that it's not a problem, but for newcomers all that parenthesis accumulation is quite problematic. I speak out of my personal experience: I've abandoned lisp even before learning something about macros because I couln't stand the parenthesis. I gave a second chance to Lisp some time ago, years after my first attempt. I've walked through Seibel's book entirely and know I love Lisp, but the parenthesis give a really bad first impression, they only make sense after you get to know the language better.