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Lisp didn't miss the train because it was too good or because people were idiots. For a good foundation to be good it has to meet the pre-requisite to work for
by euyyn 10y ago
Lisp didn't miss the train because it was too good or because people were idiots. For a good foundation to be good it has to meet the pre-requisite to work for most use cases. Lisp didn't when C did, in a time when hardware was small and expensive.
Times have changed now? Sure, but history didn't wait.
- nickpsecurity 10y agoThat's a significant part of it. Check out PreScheme, though, for how that might have worked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PreScheme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PreScheme It's a Scheme created as a C alternative for low-level programming used in a verified Scheme48, VLISP. It was quite efficient. LISP's doing more of that kind of thing might have fueled more use of the language.
- TeMPOraL 10y agoLisp worked well before C was even conceived. It's that C could be fitted on less expensive hardware, which was in turn easier to market to companies. C and UNIX success is a literal "worse is better" example - crappy solutions (compared to other contemporary ones), but with smaller up-front costs, so easier to sell. Buyers didn't seem to care that it costed more down the line.
- pjmlp 10y agoUNIX and C were free as beer, because AT&T was forbidden to sell it and initially gave it away. Lisp usually required expensive mainframes and workstations. Of course C got the adoption of the 80's hipsters with such price tag.