Ken Tilton wrote:
> Elsewhere the group is talking about evangelizing Lisp, the consensus
> being (a) make sure the evangelizer is respected and (b) keep it
> low-key. uh-oh...
That won't have any effect: respectability in c.l.lisp is worth nothing
elsewhere (e.g. c.l.c++); and low-key evangelising will have little to no
impact.
The best way to evangelise a language is to write compelling programs in it:
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/dotnet/fsharp/
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/ocaml/
and then advertise them by writing articles that are tangentially related to
trendy subjects.
Work XAML into the conversation:
http://fsharpnews.blogspot.com/2007/05/xaml-or-f.html
and you'll catch the attention of millions of programmers who follow
Microsoft's technology.
Write an article about O'Reilly's analysis of book sales:
http://ocamlnews.blogspot.com/2007/05/ocaml-revolution.html
and you'll make thousands of people aware of fringe languages like Lisp, and
the books that cover them. You might also encourage more people to write
Lisp books.
You can also garner interest in a language by creating language comparisons:
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/languages/ray_tracer/
Provided you include mainstream languages, you can educate people about the
benefits of your chosen language.
Finally, I'd recommend targetting mainstream programming languages that are
dwindling in popularity, like C++. The benefits of Lisp over C++ are
overwhelming and easy to explain, but the ubiquity of killer demos is
essential if people are going to convert to Lisp.
--
Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy
The F#.NET Journal
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/fsharp_journal/?usenet
Jon Harrop wrote:
> Ken Tilton wrote:
>
>>Elsewhere the group is talking about evangelizing Lisp, the consensus
>>being (a) make sure the evangelizer is respected and (b) keep it
>>low-key. uh-oh...
>
>
> That won't have any effect: respectability in c.l.lisp is worth nothing
> elsewhere (e.g. c.l.c++); and low-key evangelising will have little to no
> impact.
>
> The best way to evangelise a language is
...not to waste so much time in a forum that has such miniscule
mindshare and is frequented by users of (sorry) a better language. You
have made the mistake of thinking "oh, Lisp is close, great place to
sell." You have that exactly backwards, tho it would be wise to try
Python or Ruby where folks are using inferior languages but, yes, they
are well down The Road to (sorry) Lisp. Big phat populations as well.
What you have done is earn your black belt from a crappy martial arts
school called K# and then paraglided your miserable ass into the ring of
heavyweight prizefight to challenge the champion, who you never got near
because all the trainers and security men are kicking said ass from one
end of the canvas to the other. True story, actually. Riddick Bowe
fight, I think.
kt