use arc-like macro names

[avibryant]

Again a matter of taste, but while I'm spamming your bug tracker: what do you think of the macro names used in Arc, instead of the more traditional lisp ones? Specifically I'm thinking of:

defun => def
lambda => fn
progn => do
setf => = (and then = has to become is)

And for the benefit of JS people, I would also suggest

defvar => var

[jbr]

I like this. I'm not sure about fn, but all of the others sound way better than what I have. I'm not at all fixed on sticking to lisp conventions — the goal is to make a language that's more fun to write than javascript and isn't as arcane as lisp tends to be. Sensible, readable, macro names are a good step in that direction.

setf bothers me a lot when I'm using sibilant — I can never remember if I decided to go with setf or setq (like elisp). Set would be nice, but I used that for (set foo bar wibble) ;=> foo[bar] = wibble;. However, I'm not sure I like =. Maybe assign?

[avibryant]

Assign is too long... maybe use set for variables, and put for arrays?

[evanrmurphy]

I'm exploring some different naming and variations on the basic operators in this fork. I've only just started, so not much is different yet, but already def has replaced defun and var has replaced defvar.

The global search-and-replace on lambda is more tricky. I've tried it twice now, and each time node complains when I try to recompile sibilant. Haven't gotten to the bottom of that one yet.