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This is like the third or fourth time I've seen Clojure and Lisp mentioned. I know I'm not answering your question (I'm the least able to do so probably on HN)
by stuff4ben 13y ago
This is like the third or fourth time I've seen Clojure and Lisp mentioned. I know I'm not answering your question (I'm the least able to do so probably on HN) but as a Java developer, I'd like to know why Lisp-like languages make them a "natural choice" for AI/machine learning?
- betterunix 13y agoHomoiconicity (code and data having the same representation) is a commonly cited reason, which is key to the macro system in Lisp. Also commonly cited is the symbol type, which is also very useful in various AI contexts: http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/research/aisc http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/research/aisc This is not to say that you cannot do equivalent things in Java, but it is a lot easier in Lisp.
- danieldk 13y agoI think this is so often mentioned, because of AI/Lisp's common history. I am in natural language processing (which is sometimes seen as a subbranch of AI) and I have rarely seen anyone who used Lisp (mostly Perl, Python, Java, Prolog, and C++). Also, most machine learning software is written in C, C++, Java, or Matlab, with a strong and growing Python presence (via NumPy/SciPy).
- UK-AL 13y agoTheres a lot of history with lisp and a.i. Take for example the famous koza book for genetic programming in lisp. I think its to do with in lisp, the program is data which can be changed