μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby • Hacker News Board

μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby

#1

Post by Peteris » Fri, Jan 04, 2013, 9:34 PM UTC

μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby
fogus.github.com

Re: μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby

#2

Post by tzaman » Fri, Jan 04, 2013, 10:31 PM UTC

Is it normal that I don't have the slightest idea what I'm reading here, or is it just me?

Re: μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby

#3

Post by bitops » Fri, Jan 04, 2013, 10:33 PM UTC

I think this is a neat project and a nice demonstration of how Lisp-influenced Ruby is.

However, whenever people post "Lisp in Ruby" stories, I always hope that it'll be a "Clojure in Ruby" implementation. I am surprised no-one has done it yet.

Re: μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby

#4

Post by nine_k » Fri, Jan 04, 2013, 10:33 PM UTC

1993: «Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of Common Lisp.» [1]

20 years later: for Ruby users, situation improves! :)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspuns_tenth_rule

Re: μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby

#5

Post by pekk » Fri, Jan 04, 2013, 10:36 PM UTC

bitops wrote: post #3

I think this is a neat project and a nice demonstration of how Lisp-influenced Ruby is. However, whenever people post "Lisp in Ruby" stories, I always hope that it'll be a "Clojure in Ruby" implementation. I am surprised no-one has done it yet.

Apart from using the JVM, what is the advantage of Clojure over other Lisp dialects?

Re: μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby

#6

Post by dbyrd » Fri, Jan 04, 2013, 10:36 PM UTC

Cool project, but I think it's been done before in less lines: https://gist.github.com/4176087

Re: μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby

#7

Post by nine_k » Fri, Jan 04, 2013, 10:36 PM UTC

tzaman wrote: post #2

Is it normal that I don't have the slightest idea what I'm reading here, or is it just me?

If you don't know what Lisp is, and are a programmer, it's high time to go read about its basic principles.

Lisp is very simple and very powerful. Those who don't learn it are doomed to reinvent it, badly (cough XSLT cough).

Re: μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby

#8

Post by voidlogic » Fri, Jan 04, 2013, 10:38 PM UTC

tzaman wrote: post #2

Is it normal that I don't have the slightest idea what I'm reading here, or is it just me?

I can't say for sure- but I would guess that it would be normal for a lot of HN articles to go over your head if you are not technical or lack a C-S degree.

Re: μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby

#9

Post by hk__2 » Fri, Jan 04, 2013, 10:39 PM UTC

You should use Docco for your page, I find it much more readable: http://jashkenas.github.com/docco/

Re: μLithp - a Lisp in 27 lines of Ruby

#10

Post by jjtheblunt » Fri, Jan 04, 2013, 10:40 PM UTC

bitops wrote: post #3

I think this is a neat project and a nice demonstration of how Lisp-influenced Ruby is. However, whenever people post "Lisp in Ruby" stories, I always hope that it'll be a "Clojure in Ruby" implementation. I am surprised no-one has done it yet.

Why would anyone? Clojure runs on the JVM which supports native os threads, concurrent garbage collection, etc, for one thing. Different tools for different purposes.