Why Maps?
<p>Why use maps and not lists? Which are more standard/simpler/easier/etc.</p>
<ul>
<li>Maps are a more flexible data structure than lists which are typically used in functional languages, for example maps can easily represent lists but not vice versa.
<li>The environment is a map, using maps allows access to the environment to be easy.
<li>Maps can more naturally represent XML.
<li>Finally (perhaps most importantly), using maps is <i>different</i>. Their use poses both interesting problems and solutions.
</ul>

MISC also support lists in syntax like <a class="example">'(1 2 3)</a> which is equivalent to <a class="example">'[1 [2 [3]]]</a>.