Reddit Clone in 20 Minutes and 100 Lines of Lisp | Hacker News Reader

Reddit Clone in 20 Minutes and 100 Lines of Lisp

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I couldn't see a link to the reddit clone working - is there one?

BTW: reddit was originally in lisp (they switched to python, for libraries and hiring).

- their blog: http://blog.reddit.com/2005/12/on-lisp.html

- Pycon Keynote question: http://brainsik.theory.org/.:./2009/why-reddit-uses-python (wow, bizarre directory name)

- web.py author: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/rewritingreddit

I can't help but think that beginning in Lisp, and especially being familiar with lisp ideas, helped them a lot.

" couldn't see a link to the reddit clone working - is there one?"

I think this was when lispers (at least the ones hanging out c.l.l ) got all offended and huffy that reddit shifted from lisp to python and someone wanted to "prove" that it was a wrong decision and so built this thing. Some folks on c.l.l have always been a bit ... extreme.

I don't think it was ever a working system in the sense you mean it, just someone trying to show how obviously stupid the reddit folks were for selecting an inferior language like python (As compared to CL, the bestest language evah.

c.l.l has its share of aging crusty fanatics. If anything they dominate there.

That's pretty much my recollection as well. Many lisp advocates at the time pointed to Reddit as an example of a commercial success with lisp, and the reaction after they switched to Python got nasty, especially on #lisp.

Someone suggested the lisp community should build a "better one" than Reddit. As PG pointed out at the time of the switch "most of the complexity in the software is social, rather than technical." I don't think the author of Linkit really understood what he was saying. .

"Linkit" http://www.cl-user.net/asp/LNqT/sdataQ1SpRqcNQw5yDM==/sdataQ...

the little clone is part of the examples of the KPAX web application framework: http://kpax.wolf359.be/kpax/dynamic/reddit/

More little KPAX live examples: http://kpax.wolf359.be/kpax/dynamic/welcome

They are both awesome videos which can get anyone excited about lisp.

I know this, because an hour ago I had only a passing interest in Lisp.

Sorry, but I don't see the attraction of those videos at all.

They just show someone typing in code and checking his browser to look at a list of plain-text links.

What exactly is the big deal here?

Watching paint dry could hardly be less exciting.

The videos were a lot easier to digest than reading the first few chapters of some lisp book, but I understand that if you aren't excited by learning about new languages, then this would seem dull.

I do like learning about new languages. But I learned nothing from the videos.

The earliest version or HN was a little bigger:

http://www.ycombinator.com/arc/news.6sep06.arc

Has anyone heard of, or used, this framework:

http://weblocks.viridian-project.de/

And if I was to start playing around with one would you recommend Weblocks or KPAX or something else....

The KPAX site (http://homepage.mac.com/svc/kpax/index.html) mentions this screencast (which is from 2005 BTW):

KPAX was featured in the controversial Lisp Movie ...[snip]

Anyone know why this is/was controversial?

I think it was controversial on the comp.lang.lisp newsgroup, with threads saying "It may be Reddit-ish but it lacks most of the features like a proper data store".

[Edit] Of course, I was reading that newsgroup at the time, so this isn't a 'I think' but a 'I know'.

Nowadays you can have the data store in 5 more minutes.

You're correct, that was the gist of it.

The main reason for building that mini reddit clone was that the Reddit developers had just switched to Python and to use something different than a mini blog platform for a screencast.

And of course back then there was no Twitter to make 'exciting' little examples to show of frameworks or libraries ;-)

I think we'd need more articles at the "other" end of the spectrum, for example something like:

"A 20 millions a year business built on 20k lines of Lisp"

In other words, something "really big" in a relatively small amount of lines, not something "meh" in a pathetically small amount of lines.

I reckon it would only be 50 lines of APL - provided you learn the hieroglyphics.

Ah, but does it have alien soap?

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