What motivates people to learn and use Lisp? Do they do it for an ego boost? e.g. I've learned Lisp ... I'm enlightened (unlike all the ignorant programmers out there) ... I'm so smart ... I'm better than other people!
Which Lisp? Common Lisp isn't so great IMO. Scheme is awesome because of its minimalism, like C done right.
Do people learn Lisp to feel smart?
Yes. Similarly for other esoteric languages such as Haskell. These languages are more like cults than practical tools. The so-called "enlightenment" is obtained from having to endure fundamental idiosyncrasies of these languages. After experiencing the annoying parentheses of Lisp and the incomprehensible "lazy" nature of Haskell, one becomes a better programmer in other languages simply because the cognitive torture stops when one is not using a painful language such as Lisp.
I don't believe in ``smartness'', in my case the motivation were those pictures of anime girls holding copies of SICP.
>>4
How can some anime pictures motivate one to read a computer science textbook?
Forgive my ignorance. I don't understand the significance of anime girls.
anime girls holding copies of SICP.
I miss when it was only associated with Patchouli. When will normalfags stop ruining everything?
>>6
I made some of those images and I am willing to do it again.
>>3
You must be one of those "programming should not be interesting and I or anybody else should only program because it's practical" types of people.
>>2
Scheme elitists seem to have an anti-C agenda, possibly due to the subtle propaganda embedded within SICP.
>>1
I personally decided to learn Lisp, and Scheme in particular because it is a very simple language with good learning materials. I don’t think introducing programming or computer science in a large language is a good idea; it makes it seem that computer science is about searching for features. Forth might be a reasonable alternative for those so inclined.
>>3
If there is a Scheme enlightenment to be had my guess would be that it would simply be due to the learning materials available, and an early experience with exhaustively understanding a programming language. There simply aren’t many books like EoPL and SICP.
It's just fun to program in Lisp
>>10
Exactly. Scheme is attractive for educational purposes because of its simplicity and the relatively large amount of accessible literature available.
One can select among these books according to one's tastes and interests:
* SICP
* The Little Schemer series (The Little Schemer, The Seasoned Schemer, The Reasoned Schemer, The Little Typer, The Little Prover)
* Lisp in Small Pieces
Lisp is incomplete without Lisp Machine. It's there to make you escape the loop of switching between Windows, Linux, Mac. It's God's language. The Ultimate Journey to the One Truth.
>>13
Are Lisp Machines still being manufactured? Where can a Lisp programmer buy one? How much does one cost? I have a budget of $2000.
>>13
false flag?
>>14
Don't think anybody manufactures Lisp Machines anymore, unfortunately. I heard DKS used to sell old Symbolics stock a few years ago, you might try shooting him an e-mail; I assume you're aware they're ~30+y/o hardware and whatnot. You could also find yourself the unofficial port of Open Genera to Linux/x86 if all you want is to experiment with the software (which is what made the Lisp Machines shine, however cool the hardware was); or Portable Genera, but good luck getting your hands on that. Emulators for multiple of the machines exist, with varying degrees of completeness. Interlisp-D, which originally ran on the Xerox D-machines and is very different to the MIT-descended Lisp systems, got open-sourced a couple years ago and is available and maintained as well, for a different perspective.
If that was the objective, wouldn't learning Haskell be a better option?
I am of pretty average intelligence (tested 99 on Mensa website, no joke) and I like Scheme/Lisp because they are *easier* to learn/read than (say) Java/C++/Go
I do it because I like to LARP as a wizard like the one in the cover ofthe book. I also have a tome of AMOP and I like to pretend it's an old grimoire and hold it solemnly in my hands as I chant some incantations from it. I do this as a ritual in which I wear a robe I found at thrift store and a pointy hat I got from a costume shop, not a shitty one for children but a good looking one used for plays.