The point of homoiconic languages like lisps, where the language is just the syntax tree, is that you can make your own nodes. `if-let` and `when-let` are patterns, they don't have to be common, the definition of which remove at least one node. It's not any different than the idea of having lots of small functions but at the syntax layer. Do this enough time and your actual business logic starts get pretty terse.
The point of homoiconic languages like lisps, where the language is just the syntax tree, is that you can make your own nodes. `if-let` and `when-let` are patterns, they don't have to be common, the definition of which remove at least one node. It's not any different than the idea of having lots of small functions but at the syntax layer. Do this enough time and your actual business logic starts get pretty terse.