In "Growing a Language" [invited talk at OOPSLA'98],
e.g., http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/steele.pdf
Steele states, on page 7:
"Lisp is not used quite as much as it used to be,
but parts of it live on in other languages, ..."
What did he mean by this?
- The absolute number of Lisp programmers (or programmer-hours
or new lines of code or files or...) is lower now
[1998] than before. ?
- The relative number of Lisp programmers (or programmer-hours
or new lines of code or files or...) is lower now
than before. ?
- Anecdotally, among the people I know who used to used Lisp,
including myself, Lisp usage is lower now than before. ?
- ?
If either of the first two cases, would this be an example
of proof-by-assertion...proof-by-intuition...
proof-by-fuzzy-feeling?
The "parts of it live on" wording sounds like a suggestion
that Lisp is dead. Or perhaps a hope that it would
die (or die more), to the benefit of Java?
But that was in 1998. Could it be asserted now that Lisp
usage has increased in the four years since that 1998 talk?
Would proof-by-assertion be the only possible basis for
such a statement?
c hore wrote:
> In "Growing a Language" [invited talk at OOPSLA'98],
> e.g.,
>
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/steele.pdf
> Steele states, on page 7:
> "Lisp is not used quite as much as it used to be,
> but parts of it live on in other languages, ..."
>
> What did he mean by this?
Ten or fifteen years ago Lisp had no competitor. But other
languages have been developed in the meantime which
implement many features of Lisp. One of those languages is
Python. So now there is an alternative to using Lisp.
--
JB
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JB wrote:
>
> c hore wrote:
>
> > In "Growing a Language" [invited talk at OOPSLA'98],
> > e.g.,
> >
> http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/steele.pdf
> > Steele states, on page 7:
> > "Lisp is not used quite as much as it used to be,
> > but parts of it live on in other languages, ..."
> >
> > What did he mean by this?
>
> Ten or fifteen years ago Lisp had no competitor. But other
> languages have been developed in the meantime which
> implement many features of Lisp. One of those languages is
> Python. So now there is an alternative to using Lisp.
Some of the features. Python's lambda leaves a lot to be
desired, the built-in lists are more like Java vectors
than real lists, and there are no macros. You can add
proper lists easily enough (no easier in Python than it
is in C, though), but the absence of the other two
features is more problematic. Nevertheless, I believe Peter
Norvig is considering porting AI algorithms to it, but
doing this will be hard work as Lisp doesn't map that
well onto Python.
> JB
Le Hibou
--
Dalinian: Lisp. Java. Which one sounds sexier?
RevAaron: Definitely Lisp. Lisp conjures up images of hippy coders,
drugs,
sex, and rock & roll. Late nights at Berkeley, coding in Lisp fueled by
LSD.
Java evokes a vision of a stereotypical nerd, with no life or social
skills.
Donald Fisk wrote:
> Nevertheless,�I�believe�Peter
> Norvig is considering porting AI algorithms to it, but
> doing this will be hard work as Lisp doesn't map that
> well onto Python.
AFAIK Python is interpreted, while Lisp can often be compiled. How does he
expect to get good performance that is usually desired in AI algorithms
such as alpha-beta search?
Cheers
Oleg
--
"It's because they're stupid, that's why. That's why
everybody does everything." -- Homer Simpson.