3 ms·

I wonder though if this is an out of date concern because the last time Lisp was popular was before the proliferation of open source and tools like github. As a

by siavosh 15y ago

I wonder though if this is an out of date concern because the last time Lisp was popular was before the proliferation of open source and tools like github. As a newbie Clojure programmer, I feel like I've already come across some very successful open source frameworks/libs (ex. Noir, Storm). I do get concerned though how PL fads seem to move in circles, and would love to learn more why Lisp is experiencing a renaissance. What's changed?

lispm 15y ago
Lisp had open source before you had it. The Lisp implementations were already shared during the 60s. They travelled by tape. The github of that time was the time-sharing system, where hundreds of users shared a computer and its storage: mainframes and large minicomputers. See ITS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incompatible_Timesharing_System http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incompatible_Timesharing_System The MIT in the 70s and 80s had LANs and file servers already. The networked Lisp Machines used common repositories. There weren't passwords. Different sites shared files via tapes and via the early ARPA net. Losing this when the MIT commercialized some of the technology inspired Richard Stallman to start the free software movement. Lisp and AI users collected and shared a lot of software. See for example this repository with software from the 80s and early 90s: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/ai-repository/ai/0.html http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/ai-repository/ai/0.html Sharing was done via FTP servers. When Common Lisp was initially developed from 82-84, immediately open source implementations (with different licenses) were created: CMUCL, KCL, AKCL, WCL, CLISP, ... which can be traced to today's SBCL, ECL, CCL, ABCL and others.
spacemanaki 15y ago
I think a big part of it is the interest in functional languages in general. There was also something of a minor Lisp renaissance around the time that Practical Common Lisp (2005) and pg's "Revenge of the Nerds" (2002) was written. Now Clojure is fueling another bump in interest, including interest in CL and Scheme, as people coming to Lisp via Clojure are discovering some of the Lisp classics: PAIP, SICP, On Lisp, Lisp in Small Pieces, etc. This is all speculation on my part.

by siavosh 15y ago

lispm 15y ago

Lisp had open source before you had it. The Lisp implementations were already shared during the 60s. They travelled by tape. The github of that time was the time-sharing system, where hundreds of users shared a computer and its storage: mainframes and large minicomputers. See ITS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incompatible_Timesharing_System http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incompatible_Timesharing_System The MIT in the 70s and 80s had LANs and file servers already. The networked Lisp Machines used common repositories. There weren't passwords. Different sites shared files via tapes and via the early ARPA net. Losing this when the MIT commercialized some of the technology inspired Richard Stallman to start the free software movement. Lisp and AI users collected and shared a lot of software. See for example this repository with software from the 80s and early 90s: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/ai-repository/ai/0.html http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/ai-repository/ai/0.html Sharing was done via FTP servers. When Common Lisp was initially developed from 82-84, immediately open source implementations (with different licenses) were created: CMUCL, KCL, AKCL, WCL, CLISP, ... which can be traced to today's SBCL, ECL, CCL, ABCL and others.

spacemanaki 15y ago

I think a big part of it is the interest in functional languages in general. There was also something of a minor Lisp renaissance around the time that Practical Common Lisp (2005) and pg's "Revenge of the Nerds" (2002) was written. Now Clojure is fueling another bump in interest, including interest in CL and Scheme, as people coming to Lisp via Clojure are discovering some of the Lisp classics: PAIP, SICP, On Lisp, Lisp in Small Pieces, etc. This is all speculation on my part.