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Lisp?

jesusphreakjesusphreak
edited January 2006 in Vanilla 1.0 Help
Over at Reddit, there are a ton of Lisp fanboys. Actually, Reddit was originally written in Lisp (which is why there is a community around it over there), but has since started using Python due to certain problems with Lisp such as a lack of library support.

Lisp has a pretty interesting history - it is a 50-year old langauge that is higher level akin to Perl, Ruby, or Python, but can be as fast as C.

Anyone have any experiences/opinions on Lisp?

Comments

  • lechlech ✭
    No, but I have heard it's evil by the many that have attempted to master it. All of them have failed and curse it.
  • KosmoKosmo
    I hear that Lisp is the language of the "Unforgivable Curses" Avadra Kedavra was written in Lisp but the programmer was sentenced to Azkaban. I'm scared.
  • gigingergiginger New
    I managed to write something in Lisp once. It's the only time I did something all by myself.

    My CAD drawings now all automatically put their print date in. This makes me happy.
  • KosmoKosmo
    I managed to write something in Lisp once. It's the only time I did something all by myself.

    So it is you who wrote the Avadra Kedavra!
  • ithcyithcy New
    lisp isn't evil. it's an incredible language. and this is a classic comp sci book.
  • gigingergiginger New
    That wasn't me. I did the Cruciatus :)
  • jesusphreakjesusphreak
    I managed to write something in Lisp once. It's the only time I did something all by myself.
    You wipe your own ass at least, right?
  • gigingergiginger New
    Hell no. I have my man servants for that.
  • BergamotBergamot
    edited January 2006
    Lisp sacrifices readability and ease of maintenance for power. I find that attitude inexcusable.
  • aanandaanand
    I did Lisp (Scheme, actually) in University and it's probably the only language that's ever held me in genuine awe.

    This had a lot to do with it. Easily my favourite CompSci text.
  • MinisweeperMinisweeper New
    Yeah, the CS:SE course i'm looking at doing at uni teaches Scheme. I'd never heard of it. Thats the point, apparently. Whats it like?
  • aanandaanand
    Beautiful and fiercely minimalistic. The Wikipedia page puts it quite well: "Its goal is not to pile feature upon feature, but to remove weaknesses and restrictions that make new features appear necessary." That includes object-orientation and looping, both of which can be quite simply implemented using the core featureset.

    It and Haskell are the only programming languages that I've enjoyed using as an end to themselves, rather than just as a tool. I can see why people would turn their noses up at that but if a programmer can't ever see his/her trade as something both fun and beautiful then I think that's quite sad.

    SICP is an awesome book too and should be read by everyone who agrees with the previous statement.
  • ithcyithcy New
    *totally agrees
This discussion has been closed.