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Lisp has that whole homoiconicity thing going, the code-is-data syntax that makes macro writing super convenient. The thing about Common Lisp, though, is that y
by wrp 15y ago
Lisp has that whole homoiconicity thing going, the code-is-data syntax that makes macro writing super convenient. The thing about Common Lisp, though, is that you have to learn an awfully big chunk of it before you can start building interesting things. That's why I recommended Emacs Lisp. Sure, it's small and has dynamic rather than lexical scoping, but it still has macros. Think about the great development environment it's built into. If you learn E-Lisp, not only can you start doing interesting things from day 1, you gain better command of a useful tool even if you later decide not to continue with Lisp.
- johnm 15y agoThere are a number of other homoiconic languages floating about so I think that's much less an issue other than the fact that "lisp" is the poster child. Alas, CL is an old, bloated nightmare. :-( :-) I think the new poster child for "Lisp" is Clojure. Also, for learning programming, I'm still a big fan of Scheme.
- wrp 15y agoAgree about Clojure. The main reason I didn't choose it is that I thought a good Perlis language should not require learning much that wasn't directly related to using the new paradigm. With Clojure, you have the whole Java platform to deal with as well. Of course, there are tons of Java programmers out there and several really interesting languages for the JVM. I have thought that there should really be a list similar to mine, for people who are already working in the Java environment.