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Ask HN: Who is using Common Lisp?

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Re: Ask HN: Who is using Common Lisp?

#11

Post by rurban »

reikonomusha wrote: post #10

Rigetti Computing [1] uses it for a variety of their projects, including their high-performance quantum computer simulator called the QVM [2], and their quantum compiler. Some of their use of Lisp has been presented in more detail at the European Lisp Symposium. You can see it in the Cutting Edge section of the proceedings [3]. [1] https://www.rigetti.com [2] https://youtu.be/f9vRcSAneiw [3] https://www.european-lisp…

Then you should mention Grammarly, with about 10 million users per day. Orbitz has similar numbers.

Re: Ask HN: Who is using Common Lisp?

#14

Post by andyhd »

I'm planning to write a game for Ludum Dare 42 using SBCL and clopengl. I wrote a simple Asteroids game way back with SDL (https://github.com/andyhd/asteroids), but I haven't had much opportunity to use CL since then. I find Lisp is the most enjoyable language to write in, because it has such minimal syntax, but is incredibly flexible.

Re: Ask HN: Who is using Common Lisp?

#15

Post by aidenn0 »

I want to echo Grue3[1] that the tooling around common lisp is amazing; some tools I've used are better at one level of abstraction, but none are as good all up and down the levels of abstraction. Very few languages (smalltalk comes to mind) have the culture of caring about tools.

A lot of other features that are great about lisp have become mainstream in the 15 years since I learned lisp.

Or to put it another way, python feels like a slow lisp implementation with a friendlier syntax[2], a large standard library, and poor metaprogramming support[3].

1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17617889

2: Some lispers will be annoyed by me calling python's syntax "friendlier" than lisps, but it seems to me to be true, inasmuch as this can be objective.

3: One major reason for lisp's syntax has persisted is how easy it makes metaprogramming. Once you've learned the basics of lisp, I can explain to you how Common Lisp's macro system works in under 5 minutes. The ratio of power/simplicity of it is really astounding.

Re: Ask HN: Who is using Common Lisp?

#16

Post by yorwba »

yoklov wrote: post #8
Grue3 wrote: post #2

I'm using Common Lisp for all my personal projects ( https://ichi.moe is the biggest one). I find it the easiest language to develop in, because of the tooling (SLIME), language features (CLOS, macros), and it fits my mental model the best. Granted I've been using it for a very long time, so maybe I'm just more familiar with it.

I have no real opinion on the tech stack (beyond being glad that it works for you), but this is very cool, and is something I've looked for in the past, unsuccessfully.

For something a bit more mature, you might also like https://jisho.org , which uses the venerable MeCab [1] for morphological analysis, instead of the apparently homegrown system of ichi.moe, and also incorporates a lot of other resources.

[1] http://taku910.github.io/mecab/ , also available as a Debian package

Re: Ask HN: Who is using Common Lisp?

#18

Post by TurboHaskal »

pjmlp wrote: post #13
Grue3 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SBCL aka the best one. I develop on both Windows and Linux machines, depending on circumstances and it works pretty well on both.

Better than Allegro or LispWorks?

For me the biggest pain is that there are plenty of libraries that simply don't "quickload" in LispWorks. I've never had that issue with SBCL, which about 70% of the community seems to use, followed by CCL.

No surprise considering how gimped the personal edition is (which is even one major version behind). I wish they had a sort of revenue restricted Community Edition just like embarcadero is doing now. I'm old and I don't mind paying for tooling, but how many are dropping $750 on the Hobbyist edition?

Re: Ask HN: Who is using Common Lisp?

#19

Post by endswapper »

aryamaan wrote: post #17

Slightly off the topic: if I have to start using Lisp now, how do I start? I tried curating things on my own but felt overwhelmed with the alternatives and resources. Will appreciate your take on this.

On Lisp by Paul Graham is a great starting point. It's a quick read, it will give you a conceptual basis, while exciting and inspiring you to use it's power. After that just start using it. As others have mentioned, emacs, slime, etc. are helpful.

Re: Ask HN: Who is using Common Lisp?

#20

Post by pjmlp »

TurboHaskal wrote: post #18
pjmlp wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better than Allegro or LispWorks?

For me the biggest pain is that there are plenty of libraries that simply don't "quickload" in LispWorks. I've never had that issue with SBCL, which about 70% of the community seems to use, followed by CCL. No surprise considering how gimped the personal edition is (which is even one major version behind). I wish they had a sort of revenue restricted Community Edition just like embarcadero is doing now. I'm old and I…

I see, yes you are right about the price.

I tend to call the attention for these Lisps, just because it seems a large amount of developers aren't aware what they are actually loosing in productivity by sticking with their free (gratis) tools.

Embarcadero is another good example, given what Delphi and C++ Builder were already capable of. Although here they have themselves to blame how Borland lost their hobby market ethos.

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