NIL=() Considered Harmful

Consider function READ, which parses a list of elements or returns NIL on syntax error. Such READ function would provide no way to read an empty list, because return would be indiscernible from error. But Lisp indulges creation of such read functions, because checking for NIL is much easier than checking for exception.

Moreover, it breaks strong-typing, making harder to guess author's intention.

Again showing whenever someone says something is "meant for practical use" they really mean "its a pile of incredible shit thats too scared to admit its own faults but I think everyone else is using it and I'm scared I'll be called a pussy for using something designed correctly".

Hence, Common Lisp is the PHP of the prefix notation languages.