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I think the problem of Lisp is, that it's very powerful and very dynamic. As long you're working alone, that's not that much of an issue, but with more develope

by dan00 16y ago

I think the problem of Lisp is, that it's very powerful and very dynamic. As long you're working alone, that's not that much of an issue, but with more developers you need to add more security nets, without the aid of a powerful type system. Most people love dynamic typing, because they hate the static typing of languages like C++ or Java. Powerful languages also need a powerful type system, that the developer can fully express his intentions, with the aid of a compiler validating them. Mainstream languages should start looking at type systems of languages like Haskell.

nocipher 16y ago
The more fundamental reason, I believe, is that it is often hard to just hack something together in Lisp. This mostly due to the library issues and a lack of users creating good documentation and guides. For example, a few weeks ago I wanted to start writing a program that analyzed some spreadsheet files, spit back out some relevant information (including graphs), and then served this information up on some specified port. I initially wanted to write this program in Lisp so I began to look at available libraries. For the gui component, my first pick was Qt, for which Lisp actually has bindings. I spent about a week trying to get all the dependencies for it installed unsuccessfully. The documentation essentially says, "You need all these installed," and then gives you a bunch of links to their respective websites. All of the other details were missing. Specifically, I could not install the smoke bindings for Qt. I searched for any guides or documentation and always found a git/svn repository. Once I had the files, I had no idea what to do with them; where they needed to go or how to compile them, etc. Raw .cpp and .h files that have dependencies do nothing in isolation. Furthermore, there was no support forum or any other place to ask for help. Finally, I just gave up. It was too much work to just hack together what was supposed to be a fun weekend project. So I moved onto Python, which just worked. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had such frustration.
- gnosis 16y ago
  Did you try using Quicklisp? Also, I would recommend that when you have problems like these you come ask about them on #lisp and #quicklisp on freenode. There are many very helpful and knowledgeable people there. Often, they're the authors and maintainers of the very tools you're trying to use.
  - nocipher 16y ago
    I didn't even know it existed. Thanks for the tip; I'll check it out.

by dan00 16y ago

nocipher 16y ago

The more fundamental reason, I believe, is that it is often hard to just hack something together in Lisp. This mostly due to the library issues and a lack of users creating good documentation and guides. For example, a few weeks ago I wanted to start writing a program that analyzed some spreadsheet files, spit back out some relevant information (including graphs), and then served this information up on some specified port. I initially wanted to write this program in Lisp so I began to look at available libraries. For the gui component, my first pick was Qt, for which Lisp actually has bindings. I spent about a week trying to get all the dependencies for it installed unsuccessfully. The documentation essentially says, "You need all these installed," and then gives you a bunch of links to their respective websites. All of the other details were missing. Specifically, I could not install the smoke bindings for Qt. I searched for any guides or documentation and always found a git/svn repository. Once I had the files, I had no idea what to do with them; where they needed to go or how to compile them, etc. Raw .cpp and .h files that have dependencies do nothing in isolation. Furthermore, there was no support forum or any other place to ask for help. Finally, I just gave up. It was too much work to just hack together what was supposed to be a fun weekend project. So I moved onto Python, which just worked. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had such frustration.

gnosis 16y ago
Did you try using Quicklisp? Also, I would recommend that when you have problems like these you come ask about them on #lisp and #quicklisp on freenode. There are many very helpful and knowledgeable people there. Often, they're the authors and maintainers of the very tools you're trying to use.
- nocipher 16y ago
  I didn't even know it existed. Thanks for the tip; I'll check it out.