So I have an elegant, custom-designed syntax that I can easily parse. Great. Now, where's my syntax highlighting? Where are my structured editing tools? My language-aware grep? My linters? My intelligent diffing algorithm?
There is some cognitive overhead associated with a new syntax. Reading through code, some of which is in one syntax, some of which is in another, is harder than reading through the same code in the one syntax.
Is there a better word than "printer"?
Once you've got a parser, you are only half done. You need a printer: something that can turn the parsed data structure back into a stream of bytes.
dash said that Lisp is for people who are afraid of parsers. I think he's wrong, or that at the least he should explain himself. Here are some reasons why.