S-expression idioms

Question

I am interested in S-expressions, but I still don't have the right idioms in mind.

Imagine a VLSI component, characterized by a name and a list of typed ports. What is preferable :

(component name (p1 float) (p2 float))

or

(component name ((p1 float) (p2 float)))

?

Answer 1

The first says,

I am absolutely sure, for all time, that the component item consists of a name and 0-n ports, and nothing else.

The second states:

The component item consists of a name and a list of ports, and I might decide to add some other things later.

Answer 2

I'd personally prefer the first because it's more readable/editable, but either is possible. It depends on how complicated your sexprs are going to be and how you're going to process them.