Programming languages: LISP

The most powerful programming language is Lisp. If you don't know Lisp (or its variant, Scheme), you don't know what it means for a programming language to be powerful and elegant. Once you learn Lisp, you will see what is lacking in most other languages.

Unlike most languages today, which are focused on defining specialized data types, Lisp provides a few data types which are general. Instead of defining specific types, you build structures from these types. Thus, rather than offering a way to define a list-of-this type and a list-of-that type, Lisp has one type of lists which can hold any sort of data.

Where other languages allow you to define a function to search a list-of-this, and sometimes a way to define a generic list-search function that you can instantiate for list-of-this, Lisp makes it easy to write a function that will search any list — and provides a range of such functions.

In addition, functions and expressions in Lisp are represented as data in a way that makes it easy to operate on them.

When you start a Lisp system, it enters a read-eval-print loop. Most other languages have nothing comparable to `read', nothing comparable to `eval', and nothing comparable to `print'. What gaping deficiencies!

While I love the power of Lisp, I am not a devotee of functional programming. I see nothing bad about side effects and I do not make efforts to avoid them unless there is a practical reason. There is code that is natural to write in a functional way, and code that is more natural with side effects, and I do not campaign about the question. I limit my campaigning to issues of freedom and justice, such as to eliminate nonfree software from the world.

Lisp is no harder to understand than other languages. So if you have never learned to program, and you want to start, start with Lisp. If you learn to edit with Emacs, you can learn Lisp by writing editing commands for Emacs. You can use the Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp to learn with: it is free as in freedom, and you can order printed copies from the FSF.

You can learn Scheme (and a lot of deep ideas about programming) from Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Abelson and Sussman. That book is now free/libre although the printed copies do not say so.

Software industry will be completely transformed by the LISP revolution by 2000. Mark my words.

I started learning with SCHEME. A curious toy but no more.

LISP is good but not for these reasons. It's not a functional programming language. Lists are the shittiest data structure. Emacs is a turd.

The only reason LISP is good is because of Common Lisp macros.

>>4
Symta is basically a Common Lisp with Syntax, and proper names, like head and tail, instead of car and cdr.

Forth is the language of AI for robots.

http://ai.neocities.org/FirstWorkingAGI.html -- is the tutorial AI.

>>4
Emacs is SHIT, it's not even terminal based, it has a GUI. Why would I need that to program? Vim just works, it's so much better. Fuck free software turds.

porco dio

first last, head tail, or car and cdr

heaven or hell let's rock

Dubs upcoming

pro/g/ramming anuses: dubs

>>9
A programming fighting game would be great.

>>7
For me Emacs was a gateway drug to modern IDEs and finally abandoning the retroluddite obsession with old UNIX crap.

LISP is a mental attitude rather than a programming language. It uses a certain process of the mind expressed spontaneously through keyboard. I'm concerned with retaining that process.

LISP is an open-ended programming language for open minds.

Anyone can learn Lisp in a few minutes, but nobody could master lisping in a thousand years.

It bugs me when people try to analyze Lisp as a mathematical theorem. It's not. It's feeling.

Lisp, for me, has always been a place where anything is possible--a refuge, a magical world where anyone can go, where all kinds of people can come together, and anything can happen. We are limited only by our imagination.

I hate static languages. I have to change language to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.

One thing I like about Lisp, kid, is that I don't know what's going to happen next. Do you?

The whole thing of programming LISP is not to control it but to be swept away by it. If you're swept away by it you can't wait to do it again and the same magical moments always come.

My own feelings about the direction in which LISP should go are that there should be much less stress on static exhibitionism and much more on dynamic content, on what might be termed humanity in programming and the freedom to express all that you want.

Not to deny that LISP is a thinking people's programming language, but when I'm lisping if I ever catch myself thinking, I'm in trouble--I know something is wrong.

Lispness is not a state of mind, It's a fact of life!

Surrender your whole being to LISP, and gravity disappears...with few macros, one could write code as deep as the ocean.

Macros are to Lisp what yeast is to bread--without it, it's flat.

Recursion is the ability to talk to oneself.

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus

Lisp is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your REPL.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to decide where LISP starts or where it ends, or even where the borderline lies between between programming in general and LISP. I feel there is no boundary line.

LISP is what we need when other languages fail us, but we cannot remain silent.

"Lisp" stands for "Lisp Is Syntactically Pure"

If it ain't Lisp, it's crap.

Gensokyo is a mental attitude rather than a physical object. It uses a certain process of the mind expressed spontaneously through phantasm. I'm concerned with retaining that process.
Gensokyo is an open-ended universe for open minds.
Anyone can learn about Gensokyo in a few minutes, but nobody could get a grasp of its boundaries in a thousand years.
It bugs me when people try to analyze Gensokyo as a mathematical theorem. It's not. It's feeling.
Gensokyo, for me, has always been a place where anything is possible--a refuge, a magical world where anyone can go, where all kinds of people can come together, and anything can happen. We are limited only by our imagination.
I hate static worlds. I have to change world to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.
One thing I like about Gensokyo, kid, is that I don't know what's going to happen next. Do you?
The whole thing of entering Gensokyo is not to control it but to be swept away by it. If you're swept away by it you can't wait to visit it again and the same magical moments always come.
My own feelings about the direction in which Gensokyo should go are that there should be much less stress on static exhibitionism and much more on dynamic content, on what might be termed humanity in dreaming and the freedom to express all that you want.
Not to deny that Gensokyo is a thinking people's world, but when I'm dreaming if I ever catch myself thinking, I'm in trouble--I know something is wrong.
Gensoness is not a state of mind, It's a fact of life!
Surrender your whole being to Gensokyo, and gravity disappears...with few rituals, one could create phantasms taller than the skies.
Incidents are to Gensokyo what yeast is to bread--without it, it's flat.
Recursion is the ability to talk to oneself.
Making the mundane exciting is commonplace; making the unexpected mundane, awesomely mundane, that's fantasy. — Unknown
Gensokyo is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your brain.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to decide where Gensokyo starts or where it ends, or even where the borderline lies between between living in general and Gensokyo. I feel there is no boundary line.
Gensokyo is what we need when other worlds fail us, but we cannot remain detached.
"Gensokyo" stands for "the land of illusions"
If it ain't Gensokyo, it's crap.