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Python syntax in Lisp and Scheme

Marco Antoniotti marcoxa at cs.nyu.edu
Fri Oct 10 11:44:13 EDT 2003 
Andrew Dalke wrote:

> Edi Weitz
...
> 
>>So, here are your choices:
>>
>>1. Buy a commercial Lisp. I've done that and I think it was a good
>>   decision.
> 
> 
> I'm already making my living from doing Python, so I've got an
> incentive to stay with it.  ;)
> 
> In the scientific conferences I attend, no one I've seen uses Lisp
> for their work, excepting those old enough that they started before
> there were other high-quality high-level languages.

Maybe thos of us "old enough" know that some high-level high-quality 
languages are better than others :)


> 
> No one has told me they would hire me for contract work "if only
> you were a Lisp programmer."
> 
> If the barrier to entry to do what are common-place tasks requires
> I buy a commercial Lisp then it's much less likely others will use
> my code.  I like having others use my code.
> 
> (Then why do I use Python?  It's a tradeoff, since writing Java/C++
> is just too tedious.  And I like the people in Python (Hi Laura!).
> And I'm picky the domain -- I like doing computational life sciences.)

Well, I am doing that too.  Do you know what is the core of 
Biocyc/Ecocyc/Metacyc written in?

>>2. Try to improve the situation of the free CL implementations by
>>   writing libraries or helping with the infrastructure. That's how
>>   this "Open Source" thingy is supposed to work. I'm also doing this.
> 
> 
> And I'm doing it for Python.  For my domain, it seems like a much
> better language choice, for reasons I've mentioned here several times.

Your reasons seem to boil down to the "I do not know Lisp enough" thingy 
you hear over and over.  I know I sound trite, but that is exactly the 
point.  Meanwhile, CL languishes because people don't understand 
Greespun's Tenth :)

I know I am whining :) I *am* an old geezer :)


> 
> 
>>3. Run around complaining that you can't use Lisp because a certain
>>   combination of features is not available for free. We have far too
>>   many of these guys on c.l.l.
> 
> 
> Technically I'm cross-posting from c.l.py.  And I actually complain
> for other reasons.  ;)
> 
> 
>>4. Just don't use it. That's fine with me.
> 
> 
> So far I've made ... 4(?) half-hearted attempts at learning Lisp.
> And 1 at learning Haskell.  And 0.1 at learning OCaml.
> 
> 
>>It currently looks like the number of people choosing #2 is
>>increasing. Looks promising. You are invited to take part - it's a
>>great language and a nice little community... :)
> 
> 
> "A rising tide lifts all boats".  The same is true in Python, in
> Java, in Ruby, in ...

With the main difference that Greespun's Tenth Rule of Programming does 
not apply in only one case :)

Cheers
--
marco
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