>The AIMA/PAIP code in Common Lisp, for instance, are ugly as hell
perhaps it just means you are familiar with python, not lisp.
I have 3 years of experience with both and let me tell you, there is nothing elegant in Python: there's nothing elegant in having to deal with one-line lambdas, global interpreter lock, 30x-50x longer execution times than Lisp, distinction between statements vs expressions, mutability everywhere, a flaccid OOP system, no interactive development features, and horribly written libraries.
>The AIMA/PAIP code in Common Lisp, for instance, are ugly as hell
perhaps it just means you are familiar with python, not lisp.
I have 3 years of experience with both and let me tell you, there is nothing elegant in Python: there's nothing elegant in having to deal with one-line lambdas, global interpreter lock, 30x-50x longer execution times than Lisp, distinction between statements vs expressions, mutability everywhere, a flaccid OOP system, no interactive development features, and horribly written libraries.