4 ms·

That assumes that Lisp is a (singular) language. Lisp, to my mind, is a family of languages of a certain type, much like the statically-typed functional languag

by ionfish 15y ago

That assumes that Lisp is a (singular) language. Lisp, to my mind, is a family of languages of a certain type, much like the statically-typed functional languages are a family. Choosing one Lisp over another is not like choosing which C compiler to use, it's more like choosing whether to use Python or Ruby.

cabalamat 15y ago
OK, let's say I decide to use Common Lisp. Then I have to decide what implementation to use. There isn't a default one like there is with Python or Ruby. Whichever one I choose, how can I know (and remember at this point I don't actually know CL) what libraries it has, what quality they are, whether there are libraries that work on other CLs but not this one, what debugging tools are available and what quaslity, whether it will work on the OS I use, whether it will work on the OS I will use in 5 years time (and I don't know what that will be), whether there are any other pitfalls with my choice, etc. For me to be sure I've made the right choice, I'd have to do weeks or months of research, including trying out the major varients. Fuck that. If I do learn a Lisp it'll be Clojure, because there's only one implementation.
- pjscott 15y ago
  In case anybody is wondering, here's some information about Common Lisp that should make it easier to get started. Use SBCL; it's the most common and well-supported implementation. It works fine on most OSes (and has done so for years, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future), though it's a bit dodgy on Windows. If you're using a Unix (including OS X), you'll be fine: http://www.sbcl.org/platform-table.html http://www.sbcl.org/platform-table.html The place to look for libraries is CLiki.net, and if you'd like to get started with minimum effort, then Quicklisp is exactly the library collection you're looking for: http://www.quicklisp.org/beta/ http://www.quicklisp.org/beta/ Quicklisp has all the common libraries, with easy installation and dependency management. For editing and debugging, it's hard to beat slime-mode in emacs. It's very slick and pleasant to work with. (Incidentally, this is also the most common way of editing Clojure, but it works more smoothly with Common Lisp. Much better stack traces, for example.) I'm enjoying using Clojure right now, but please don't be scared away from Common Lisp. It's got a lot going for it.

by ionfish 15y ago

cabalamat 15y ago

OK, let's say I decide to use Common Lisp. Then I have to decide what implementation to use. There isn't a default one like there is with Python or Ruby. Whichever one I choose, how can I know (and remember at this point I don't actually know CL) what libraries it has, what quality they are, whether there are libraries that work on other CLs but not this one, what debugging tools are available and what quaslity, whether it will work on the OS I use, whether it will work on the OS I will use in 5 years time (and I don't know what that will be), whether there are any other pitfalls with my choice, etc. For me to be sure I've made the right choice, I'd have to do weeks or months of research, including trying out the major varients. Fuck that. If I do learn a Lisp it'll be Clojure, because there's only one implementation.

pjscott 15y ago
In case anybody is wondering, here's some information about Common Lisp that should make it easier to get started. Use SBCL; it's the most common and well-supported implementation. It works fine on most OSes (and has done so for years, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future), though it's a bit dodgy on Windows. If you're using a Unix (including OS X), you'll be fine: http://www.sbcl.org/platform-table.html http://www.sbcl.org/platform-table.html The place to look for libraries is CLiki.net, and if you'd like to get started with minimum effort, then Quicklisp is exactly the library collection you're looking for: http://www.quicklisp.org/beta/ http://www.quicklisp.org/beta/ Quicklisp has all the common libraries, with easy installation and dependency management. For editing and debugging, it's hard to beat slime-mode in emacs. It's very slick and pleasant to work with. (Incidentally, this is also the most common way of editing Clojure, but it works more smoothly with Common Lisp. Much better stack traces, for example.) I'm enjoying using Clojure right now, but please don't be scared away from Common Lisp. It's got a lot going for it.