Comment by cardanome
> There's no simpler language. There simply cannot be, because there's nothing "extra" in LISP. It's the most compact (while still being human readable) way to define and/or call functions.
I guess you have not gotten into stack or array programming languages yet?
Forth is insanely compact and then there is APL which is a complete other ballpark.
Or check out Rebol for a homoiconic language in a very different syntax.
Lisp is amazing but oh boy there is whole other world out there. It is just one possible local optima. One that I personally love but not the only one.
I wouldn't exactly call APL simpler than LISP. Just because there are some things in APL that _can_ be coded with less characters doesn't make it overall simpler or even more compact in the general case. It's just axiomatic that for a language you need the ability to define and call functions, and it's just a debate about whether there's a simpler syntax than LISP or not, and I say there isn't.