I think you've misunderstood. This does not take away any of those issues. With this setup, you can write (+ 1 2 3) or +(1 2 3) or (1 + 2 + 3) and they would all translate into (+ 1 2 3). You can treat any of them as a list. You can still parse, transform, do anything with it. There is no loss of functionality here. Think of it as a macro that aliases "plus" to +. There is no difference between (plus 1 2 3) and (+ 1 2 3) in a macro defined in this way. They are S-expressions under an invisibility cloak. But they're still S-expressions within.
I understand your point and how this macro works. My point is, that you still have to think in this (+ 1 2 3) way to be able to write meaningful, recursive, 'code is data' like functions. If u think (func_name param_1 param_2 param_3) you will easily get a recursive solution for a recursive problem. And if you think that way anyway, what's the point in writing (1 + 2 + 3) in your code? It will just confuse the lisp mode in your brain.
I also think it is hard to get into this mode. But like this way of writing is not basically intuitive, so is recursive thinking and 'code is data' to me (and so I guess it will be the same for other people). It needs some time of meditating to get into lisp mode and it also needs some months of training. But when you are there, everything works together, because it works in the same way.
Or to say it like Bruce Lee: You must be water my friend. When you fill water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. If you fill water in a cup, it becomes the cup. (And if u put it in braces it becomes a lisp expression: (begin (water) (q_e_d))).
Well, that does sound subjective. By far not all lisp code is actually being manipulated as data in any non-trivial way. And for situations where all you are doing really is adding a few numbers together, why not write it in a way that is intuitive in the problem domain, rather than intuitive in what you call lisp mode? To me, being able to separate the two is an advantage. Your internal martial arts argument is void, for you are frozen in the shape of s-expressions and refuse to adapt to any other container.
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