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For the longest time I've heard that "Lisp is awesome", but no reasons why and when I've asked why, the answer is usually, "you have to try it to see it" This

For the longest time I've heard that "Lisp is awesome", but no reasons why and when I've asked why, the answer is usually, "you have to try it to see it" This article is a pretty nice down to earth point by point explanation why list is so cool. My question is: is that it ? lambdas, data is code, dynamic programing.. I mean those features are cool, but could someone post some more clear examples of why lisp is awesome?

asolove 17y ago
See the HN-famous books "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs," "Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming," and "On Lisp." The claim is that Lisp is a language at a higher level of abstraction. You will have to study hard to be able to appreciate that level, but it cannot be explained in another way. Imagine explaining Calculus to a high school Physics student. You're likely to get back: "But I can find the acceleration of an object by using normal algebra and subtracting its position at two different times!" Calculus is hard, its benefits are not clearly better than approximation or high school algebra until you reach a level at which you brain thinks of Calculus as fundamental and sees the old equations as merely derived, less-powerful versions. Why would you expect a mind-expanding language to be any easier to explain?
- clueless123 17y ago
  Dude... that is a very good analogy! point well taken.
  - silentbicycle 17y ago
    Also, it's worth noting that all three books implement a subset of Prolog (in Lisp). Prolog is another language which sounds really bizarre, but can be incredibly powerful. It's less general purpose than Lisp, though - essentially, it works by searching for answers that fulfill all criteria you specify, backtracking to (lazily) generate alternative answers as needed. It's conceptually really cool, and is great for prototyping certain kinds of problems. Some of the literature is also quite good, particularly _The Art of Prolog_ by Sterling & Shapiro.
cylinder714 17y ago
This isn't an enumerated list, obviously, but it piqued my interest in Lisp, among other things: http://wiki.alu.org/RtL_Highlight_Film http://wiki.alu.org/RtL_Highlight_Film
jodrellblank 17y ago
http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp-ducati.html http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp-ducati.html http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp.html http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp.html """What would you rather do? Learn 16 different languages and frameworks in order to do "simple" log-file and configuration-file processing? Or just buckle down, learn Lisp, and have all of these problems go away forever?""" http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/the-emacs-problem http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/the-emacs-problem
- clueless123 17y ago
  The above article (http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp.html http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp.html) is excellent ! Thank you very much for the link.

asolove 17y ago

See the HN-famous books "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs," "Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming," and "On Lisp." The claim is that Lisp is a language at a higher level of abstraction. You will have to study hard to be able to appreciate that level, but it cannot be explained in another way. Imagine explaining Calculus to a high school Physics student. You're likely to get back: "But I can find the acceleration of an object by using normal algebra and subtracting its position at two different times!" Calculus is hard, its benefits are not clearly better than approximation or high school algebra until you reach a level at which you brain thinks of Calculus as fundamental and sees the old equations as merely derived, less-powerful versions. Why would you expect a mind-expanding language to be any easier to explain?

clueless123 17y ago
Dude... that is a very good analogy! point well taken.
- silentbicycle 17y ago
  Also, it's worth noting that all three books implement a subset of Prolog (in Lisp). Prolog is another language which sounds really bizarre, but can be incredibly powerful. It's less general purpose than Lisp, though - essentially, it works by searching for answers that fulfill all criteria you specify, backtracking to (lazily) generate alternative answers as needed. It's conceptually really cool, and is great for prototyping certain kinds of problems. Some of the literature is also quite good, particularly _The Art of Prolog_ by Sterling & Shapiro.

cylinder714 17y ago

This isn't an enumerated list, obviously, but it piqued my interest in Lisp, among other things: http://wiki.alu.org/RtL_Highlight_Film http://wiki.alu.org/RtL_Highlight_Film

jodrellblank 17y ago

http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp-ducati.html http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp-ducati.html http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp.html http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp.html """What would you rather do? Learn 16 different languages and frameworks in order to do "simple" log-file and configuration-file processing? Or just buckle down, learn Lisp, and have all of these problems go away forever?""" http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/the-emacs-problem http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/the-emacs-problem

clueless123 17y ago
The above article (http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp.html http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp.html) is excellent ! Thank you very much for the link.