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Reddit 1.0 was written in Lisp

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Re: Reddit 1.0 was written in Lisp

#21

Post by buildbot »

colordrops wrote: post #17
wudangmonk wrote: post #15

The current reddit seems to be written in js/python. I can see the logic behind js since its a lot easier to find devs and thanks to all the hard work of the engineers behind v8 its not a slow language. I do not understand why python was chosen though. If you need more speed you would go with c++ and not python which is the slowest popular language. Anyone got any insight into why python was chosen?.

I imagine because it's obviously "fast enough" performance-wise, and an order of magnitude faster dev-wise and hiring-wise.

Not fast enough to develop good moderation features with 2000 employees

Re: Reddit 1.0 was written in Lisp

#22

Post by wiseowise »

optbuild wrote: post #14
esperent wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The source code is much more interesting than some Twitter bro's hot take. "We took a wrong turn w/ software." ... apparently. Save your energy and check out the repo instead. I don't totally blame the guy though. If you want to play the stupid Twitter game, you have to add a trite but provocative hot take to every post you make, lest your writings languish in obscurity. The only way to win is not to play, truly.

He is not a Twitter bro though. He has developed software extensively. He is a PL researcher, a professor at BrownU, now working in computing education.

That’s the point.

Re: Reddit 1.0 was written in Lisp

#23

Post by hickelpickle »

wudangmonk wrote: post #15

The current reddit seems to be written in js/python. I can see the logic behind js since its a lot easier to find devs and thanks to all the hard work of the engineers behind v8 its not a slow language. I do not understand why python was chosen though. If you need more speed you would go with c++ and not python which is the slowest popular language. Anyone got any insight into why python was chosen?.

Because Spez can't read it, he can only parse shapes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq7DEUhr7o0

Re: Reddit 1.0 was written in Lisp

#24

Post by FlyingSnake »

mchaver wrote: post #12

So I've read that they wrote it in Lisp at Paul Graham's request or to win favor. Does anyone know if writing your startup code in Lisp still has that benefit?

While I'm sure there are startups using Lisp, Clojure might be the most widely used List dialect amongst startup.

Re: Reddit 1.0 was written in Lisp

#25

Post by sen »

hickelpickle wrote: post #23
wudangmonk wrote: post #15

The current reddit seems to be written in js/python. I can see the logic behind js since its a lot easier to find devs and thanks to all the hard work of the engineers behind v8 its not a slow language. I do not understand why python was chosen though. If you need more speed you would go with c++ and not python which is the slowest popular language. Anyone got any insight into why python was chosen?.

Because Spez can't read it, he can only parse shapes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq7DEUhr7o0

I can’t tell if this is an AI fake or not, and that scares me.

Re: Reddit 1.0 was written in Lisp

#26

Post by winrid »

wudangmonk wrote: post #15

The current reddit seems to be written in js/python. I can see the logic behind js since its a lot easier to find devs and thanks to all the hard work of the engineers behind v8 its not a slow language. I do not understand why python was chosen though. If you need more speed you would go with c++ and not python which is the slowest popular language. Anyone got any insight into why python was chosen?.

It was chosen because at the time because python was much more mature and productive. They didnt use Django, but as an example Django is still more productive than any Node framework I've tried thus far, too, and we have types now. :)

Re: Reddit 1.0 was written in Lisp

#27

Post by winrid »

buildbot wrote: post #21
colordrops wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine because it's obviously "fast enough" performance-wise, and an order of magnitude faster dev-wise and hiring-wise.

Not fast enough to develop good moderation features with 2000 employees

I would argue that's because they went the microservices + react route, so now everything is probably more difficult to implement, especially since the monolith is still in the center.

Re: Reddit 1.0 was written in Lisp

#28

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

sen wrote: post #25
hickelpickle wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Spez can't read it, he can only parse shapes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq7DEUhr7o0

I can’t tell if this is an AI fake or not, and that scares me.

It was uploaded 9 years ago. Definitely real.

Re: Reddit 1.0 was written in Lisp

#29

Post by mg »

wudangmonk wrote: post #15

The current reddit seems to be written in js/python. I can see the logic behind js since its a lot easier to find devs and thanks to all the hard work of the engineers behind v8 its not a slow language. I do not understand why python was chosen though. If you need more speed you would go with c++ and not python which is the slowest popular language. Anyone got any insight into why python was chosen?.

I have a theory (which nobody I ever met shares) that the visually most beautiful language is the one that long-term results in the fastest development of a project:

Visual noise is like inflation. A constant tax on what you do. But you barely notice it. But it accumulates because it is constantly leading to slightly worse and more complex code. Since it is harder to focus on a noisy something in front of you, you make slightly worse decisions. Over time this accumulates. And similar to how Warren Buffet noticed that a Dollar of his youth is not even worth a penny these days, over time, exponentially more effort is needed to develop the more and more complex system.

So over a longer timeframe, a visually more elegant language wins by a long shot.

Python is the visually most elegant language.

Re: Reddit 1.0 was written in Lisp

#30

Post by bitwize »

mg wrote: post #29
wudangmonk wrote: post #15

The current reddit seems to be written in js/python. I can see the logic behind js since its a lot easier to find devs and thanks to all the hard work of the engineers behind v8 its not a slow language. I do not understand why python was chosen though. If you need more speed you would go with c++ and not python which is the slowest popular language. Anyone got any insight into why python was chosen?.

I have a theory (which nobody I ever met shares) that the visually most beautiful language is the one that long-term results in the fastest development of a project: Visual noise is like inflation. A constant tax on what you do. But you barely notice it. But it accumulates because it is constantly leading to slightly worse and more complex code. Since it is harder to focus on a noisy something in front of you, you ma…

Scheme has entered the chat.
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