[benj111]

>This house was built with parens.

While the metaphor is correct.

(House(kitchen ( bathroom (bedroom))))

Surely the meaningful part of a house, or lisp, is everything else.

(((()))) Is neither a house nor lisp.

Yes it probably is, but the meaningful part is the nothing that's in there, not the parens surrounding the nothing.

A house isn't just 4 walls. It's where you live, surely that's the important part.

I'll stop getting philosophical with throwaway comments now.

[tmtvl]

I like that analogy, a programming language without brackets is like a house without walls, and nil is an empty house.

[benj111]

As I said, the analogy works.

But the house bedroom bathroom kitchen bit is more important than the (((()))).

Maybe I'm thinking about this too much (read, I am thinking about this too much) but maybe the data / use is more important than the structure

[tmtvl]

Life, like brackets, is about balance. Four walls with a roof don't make a home, but a bed, cupboard, toilet, stove, table, chairs, and bath set up out in the open don't make much of a home either. The internals need the structure just as much as the structure needs the internals.