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Racket is still my preferred language based on how fun it is to use and the community is just awesome.

neilv 7y ago
Same here. I have professional experience with various languages, but Racket is my personal preference. It's one of those platforms that many programmers want to use, which is a good quality for a platform to have. I can do almost everything in Racket (except for things like OS kernel, and easy slick smartphone apps), and Racket also gives me better metalanguage features than anything else. The main downsides I see are: you end up doing more things from scratch than you would in many other languages (which occasionally is an advantage), it's not as proven like something like Java (in a "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" kind of way), and there are only a few non-academic jobs in the world right now. I originally moved to Racket as a super-productive platform for R&D, and a lot of that could also apply to creative startups trying to get demos and beta rapidly. (For startups, consider using Racket for the sprint to significant funding, at which time you might be rewriting/pivoting regardless of what language you use, and at that time you can decide whether to stick with Racket.) If you're already an experienced programmer, you can get started with Racket quickly, and soon be productive and see some boosts, though you'll need some experience with it before you'll get all the benefits (it's not just Python with parentheses), and you will probably have to do some things from scratch.
- baldfat 7y ago
  The greatest thing is that Racket is fun the worst thing is Racket is fun, because everyone does their own thing. You can do your own thing faster then finding something and implementing it. It is funny how that is an issue.
cpach 7y ago
”the community is just awesome” I’ll second that. I used to hang out in #racket on Freenode and the people there were genuinely nice folks.

Same here. I have professional experience with various languages, but Racket is my personal preference. It's one of those platforms that many programmers want to use, which is a good quality for a platform to have. I can do almost everything in Racket (except for things like OS kernel, and easy slick smartphone apps), and Racket also gives me better metalanguage features than anything else. The main downsides I see are: you end up doing more things from scratch than you would in many other languages (which occasionally is an advantage), it's not as proven like something like Java (in a "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" kind of way), and there are only a few non-academic jobs in the world right now. I originally moved to Racket as a super-productive platform for R&D, and a lot of that could also apply to creative startups trying to get demos and beta rapidly. (For startups, consider using Racket for the sprint to significant funding, at which time you might be rewriting/pivoting regardless of what language you use, and at that time you can decide whether to stick with Racket.) If you're already an experienced programmer, you can get started with Racket quickly, and soon be productive and see some boosts, though you'll need some experience with it before you'll get all the benefits (it's not just Python with parentheses), and you will probably have to do some things from scratch.

baldfat 7y ago
The greatest thing is that Racket is fun the worst thing is Racket is fun, because everyone does their own thing. You can do your own thing faster then finding something and implementing it. It is funny how that is an issue.

cpach 7y ago

”the community is just awesome” I’ll second that. I used to hang out in #racket on Freenode and the people there were genuinely nice folks.