Tom,

I have given Lisp a try and am loving it. Don't worry, I am not going
to get scared and run-off to some other lang. Its only been six
months, but I am deep in CL now... not getting out anytime soon.

Also, you mention Python a lot. I'd been thiking of learning Ruby. Got
me confused now... anything in particular py has over ruby?

Chaitanya

On 5/2/06, Thomas Elam <tomelam@...> wrote:
> Chaitanya,
>
> No computer language is `perfect' for every job, but the essence of Lisp is
> just so good that it is considered a very important language for a really
> well-educated computer scientist to know. I guess that's partly why they
> teach it as a first programming language at places like MIT.
>
> The problems Lisp has are less serious than the problems other languages
> has. One of the main points in that thread Roshan pointed out is that Lisp
> is a truly general purpose language. Why doesn't it include a web server or
> more web interaction functions? Then why not also functions for manipulating
> genetic information? Whatever is hot is what the current fad language tends
> to emphasise. But Lisp can and does absorb the best ideas from other
> languages. It is the 100-year language.
>
> To be able to take advantage of a language that has lost so much mindshare
> since its heyday in the era when the US National Science Foundation granted
> lots of money to artificial intelligence research, you'll just have to find
> out for yourself why many of the smarter crowd (I'm certainly not talking
> about myself!) still love the language -- and are still learning it.
>
> On a personal note, I want to say that because I learnt Lisp, I could pick
> up many of the advanced features of Python very quickly. There are many
> projects that I can do now using Lisp that I wouldn't untertake with any
> other language, just because of how powerful it is. I don't have to write
> all the powerful packages for the language: they are getting written quickly
> by others. There really is quite a lot going on with Lisp. Don't be fooled
> by the numbers. There is a quite different phenomenon here: many of the very
> best programmers are working on Lisp libraries such as UCW and many others;
> they are capable of creating amazingly good libraries without a huge company
> and millions of dollars to back them up because the language is like
> sculptors' putty (and because they're a smarter concentration of programmers
> than you'll probably get to see in one `place').
>
> Just try your own pet project you find interesting; join #lisp and c.l.l.
> and ask questions politely there; and see where it takes you. Compare that
> to C! I've got plenty of ideas (and so does lisp-gardeners) if you are at a
> loss. Try the language to love it. Give it a try for at least 6 months or a
> year. Spend time with it.
>
> Good luck.
>
> On 5/2/06, Chaitanya Gupta <icehotcg@...> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks Tom, Roshan. I've read that thread on c.l.l. But a few things
> > just flew over my head. So I asked here.
> >
> > Anyway, I think you are right Tom - maybe I should stop worrying so
> > much about CL's problems. Why worry about them when its so much fun..
> >
> > On 5/1/06, Roshan Mathews <rmathews@...> wrote:
> > > On 5/1/06, Thomas Elam <tomelam@...> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I tried to post a link to Pascal C.'s posts in c.l.l., but I got
> > the
> > > wrong one, so I deleted it.
> > > >
> > >
> > > You should click on the "Show Options" next to the authors name and
> > > then send us the link to the "Individual Message". :)
> > >
> > > --
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> --
> Lisp humour:
>
> LISP> (setf god (symbol-value god))
> Warning: Declaring GOD special.
> Error: GOD is unbound.
>
>