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Extensive Interview with Bill Gates (billg knows Lisp!)
- mojuba 20y agoYou see, in a similar interview I'd probably mention quantum mechanics but the truth is that [censored] years after I learned it I know nothing about quantum mechanics.
- byrneseyeview 20y agoAh, but quantum mechanics is worth learning for a different reason -- the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it. That experience will make you a better thinker for the rest of your days, even if you never actually use quantum mechanics itself a lot.
- far33d 20y agoIsn't the same true for LISP?
- mojuba 20y agoAgreed, and yes, it's probably true for Lisp too. The problem is that there's nothing in Microsoft's technologies and APIs that would be in any way related to Lisp, or Lisp thinking if you wish. So what's so lispy about Bill Gates? :)
- byrneseyeview 20y agohttp://research.microsoft.com/fsharp/fsharp.aspx http://research.microsoft.com/fsharp/fsharp.aspx is close.
- ced 20y agoReally? I got 2 classes on QM. I got no enlightenment, and it mostly made me feel that we had reached the limits of what one can reasonably attempt with pen-and-paper mathematics. Seriously, how many "corrections" do they need to make in order to get a "good enough" hydrogen atom? Not to mention all of the dubious math. Learning the basics was interesting. The postulates, and all. But that was what, 5 classes? I strongly discourage anyone from going any further. Not worth it. Go study algebra instead, at least, no leap-of-faith approximations are involved.
- byrneseyeview 20y ago(It was a joking paraphrase of ESR's attitude towards Lisp. I don't know enough QM to evaluate it)
- ced 20y agoEh, I had spotted the reference, but thought you were serious. QM was the dark ages of my uni years, so I'm more suceptible to it than I should be, I guess :)
- mojuba 20y agoQM is about finding concise, mathematically perfect but weird solutions to some problems in physics. So is Lisp :)
- danielha 20y agore: submission title, Are you validating Lisp or are you validating Bill Gates? I'd be surprised if he didn't know Lisp. It's not exactly an obscure language nor is he nontechnical.
- byrneseyeview 20y agoI wasn't validating either. Gates is a smart man, so I'm sure he appreciates the power of Lisp. It's interesting that he knows a great language and and built a company that used a weaker language to create an even weaker result. It's like finding out that in his spare time, John Grisham pores over Bleak House.
- ced 20y agoHe's not alone. The co-author of Scheme went on to co-create Java