I’ve been increasingly coming around to the opinion that computers have gotten kind of boring. I miss how weird and different computers used to be, both in term

I’ve been increasingly coming around to the opinion that computers have gotten kind of boring. I miss how weird and different computers used to be, both in terms of hardware and software. For lisps, I think Racket and Clojure feel the most modern. But I’m starting to come around to the idea that there are enough modern, hyper modern, post-modern, languages and programmers out there. Some of the value in learning Common Lisp might be in its value for living software archaeology. You can find actual code written at the time people were figuring out Big Ideas that we take for granted today. And usually the process of synthesis means that Big Ideas lose a lot of associated commentary and thinking that fed in. There’s a place for modern languages that conform to the same general set of sensibilities. But there’s also joy in gettin’ weird with some of the old stuff. It’s smugly satisfying to beat the new kid on the block with old tricks on occasion.