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It depends on the apps you want to write, as well as what you already know. (For example, if you know your way around Javadocs and Java classpaths, Clojure rise
by calibraxis 17y ago
It depends on the apps you want to write, as well as what you already know. (For example, if you know your way around Javadocs and Java classpaths, Clojure rises as a possibility.)
I suggest skimming through a few pages of Planet Clojure and Planet Lisp, to get a sense of the apps people are writing. As a rough rule of thumb, if one excites you much more, that could be the better choice.
If you end up going with CL, you'll likely have a better time asking newbie questions on LispForum (or mailing lists like the LispWorks one), rather than on Usenet. And there are alternatives to SBCL and CMUCL, such as ECL and LispWorks: http://common-lisp.net/~dlw/LispSurvey.html http://common-lisp.net/~dlw/LispSurvey.html
As for prototyping-then-rewriting, I think there are a few situations:
1) nontechnical reasons (such as, the maintainers can't be expected to maintain a Lisp app)
2) because the Lisp implementation is missing some convenient functionality, and it isn't easy to call an existing one in another language
3) the Lisp doesn't interoperate well with a given technical ecosystem
I think the probability of rewriting is less with Clojure, due to its Java interop, long-term goals of interop with other platforms (like .NET), and the increasing number of teams using it.
- crazydiamond 17y agoReplying to both posts above. Thx. I am not interested in webapps. I usually do command line stuff, or libraries, and i've done some libraries in ncurses. Basically a terminal freak. Currently ruby, but 5-6 years of Java before that. No functional language exp. Are there not several versions of Scheme, too. Any suggestions for what to start with. Is scheme/lisp/clojure the correct language to use for terminal/command-line apps or ncurses stuff ? Does anyone offhand know if there is ncurses support for these languages ?
- jgg 17y ago>No functional language exp. Common Lisp, at least, isn't really a purely functional language. It supports multiple paradigms. Scheme and Clojure are a little more "functional" than CL, but they too are not pure. I wouldn't worry about this yet. >Are there not several versions of Scheme, too. Any suggestions for what to start with. I replied above. (-: >Is scheme/lisp/clojure the correct language to use for terminal/command-line apps or ncurses stuff ? I don't see why not. >Does anyone offhand know if there is ncurses support for these languages ? It looks like there is a package for Common Lisp for doing ncurses stuff. There's a thread on the PLT mailing list that indicates there's no support for ncurses in PLT Scheme, but other implementations might have it. A search in Clojure's libraries didn't reveal anything, but I may be looking in the wrong place (it seems like they would have one).
- calibraxis 17y agoI would probably lean towards Clojure, because of your Java experience, its library advantages, active community and the usefulness of other JVM communities. However, a tradeoff to keep in mind is that currently it often has unhelpful exception error messages. Googling for "ncurses java" provided better results than "ncurses clojure". It is useful to exploit Java's libraries, only wrapping them in Clojure when there is something to be gained. (Like writing a macro mini-language to automate away tedious parts of a library you use.) I find that when using a new program (in this case, a programming language), it helps to quickly test that it basically supports the features I'll want. So if I had your requirements, I might check early on whether I liked one of the ncurses libraries.
- crazydiamond 17y agoI just did look at planet lisp but got quite lost ;-) I did find http://www.unmutual.info/startingwithcl.html http://www.unmutual.info/startingwithcl.html to be helpful and a page on Stack http://stackoverflow.com/questions/108201/common-lisp-or-scheme http://stackoverflow.com/questions/108201/common-lisp-or-sch...