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lisps-expression

S-expression idioms


I am interested in S-expressions, but I still don't have the right idioms in mind.

Imagine a VLSI component, characterized by a name and a list of typed ports. What is preferable :

(component name (p1 float) (p2 float))

or

(component name ((p1 float) (p2 float)))

?


Solution

  • The first says,

    I am absolutely sure, for all time, that the component item consists of a name and 0-n ports, and nothing else.

    The second states:

    The component item consists of a name and a list of ports, and I might decide to add some other things later.