Hacker News Reader

Comment by flavio81 | Hacker News Reader

This book is destined to be a classic programming book, just as "The C programming language", "The Little Schemer" or "Operating systems: Design and implementation".

I would really like to meet Conrad Barski and give him a great hug. And invite him a good beer.

Be sure to read the comic that is on the bottom of the page!!

Now, to be honest, a quicker or more practical introduction to Lisp would be the "Practical Common Lisp" book which is also superb. However, Land of Lisp is a charming book that makes you smile and feel like a nerdy (in a good way) 12 years old kid in 1982 who just got as a birthday present a brand new Commodore-64 and is eager to read the manuals!

View on HN

Thanks for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed my book!

Hi doctor!

The comic at the bottom of the web page got me laughing and in tears at the same time, in particular the line: "Back in the 80s we showed you how to program without ANY bugs". Also, Java as a little tank, C# as a plane, Python as an helicopter... just brilliant. I almost rolled in the floor laughing by looking at that part of the strip.

Certainly it is prophetic, it seems we're almost reaching the point of being enslaved by bugs...

You're a good man, mr. Lisperati!

"As you know, we're in the 8th year of the Great Northern Wars against the Haskellers (there are rumors that more of our troops are defecting to the other side)!! Don't be tempted to break ranks!"

> Java as a little tank, C# as a plane, Python as an helicopter... just brilliant. I almost rolled in the floor laughing by looking at that part of the strip.

Is there a special significance to the Java / Python / Ruby / C# representations? I feel like I missed the joke here, even though I enjoyed the strip as a whole.

I took it to mean that Java/Python/Ruby/C# were "old tools" with flaws (bugs), but LISP is a tool for the future.

Java as a tank - that is, slow (in development time) although resilient and all-terrain

Python as a helicopter - far more manuverable but slower than a plane and easier to take down

C# as a plane, fast and carries more cargo than an helicopter.

Ruby like some sort of convoluted laser beam weapon

Lisp dialects (on the strip) are all spaceships done using "secret alien technology". Even then, the insectoids are harder to kill than back in the 80s! What will the human+lispers alliance do? Read the strip for knowning what happens next!

I did really like the Haskell comments...gave me a good chuckle!

I was going to jump in and say nice things about your comic, too. I really like the light-hearted dramatization of what really motivates programmers: the elimination of bugs. The fact that there are a few, discrete approaches is only obvious in a language that supports them all, like Lisp. (I think I might be a combination of CLOSest, minimalist, and continuationist). (I would point out that the multi-corists are more motivated by performance than correctness)

As an avid haskeller with a lot of respect for lisp, I've gotta say I really love the depiction of the Republic of Haskell as a police state, where side effects receive no mercy.

Wouldn’t it be more apt to say that side effects are not secondary citizens in haskell republic and they have first class support?

Yes, and the whole io-commands-as-values thing that outdoes anything the Command Design Pattern is capable of, and all that.

But given that the meme of haskell-has-no-side-effects exists, the Haskell Police State is funny.

"Follow the simple rules..."

"I hereby pronounce you guilty... of having SIDE EFFECTS!"

I started my career hacking Common Lisp (Allegro CL), these days I do Clojure, among other things.

That comic by Dr. Barski tears me up every time! Just to test, I went and read the comic again and I cried, again!

I have met Dr. Barski personally at a Clojure conference many years ago and I still remember him as an extremely kind and knowledgeable person.

Thank you for the Land of Lisp, Dr. Barski! Some day, we will be able to assemble our guilds and beat the Insectoids for good. Until then,long live language du jour!

>That comic by Dr. Barski tears me up every time! Just to test, I went and read the comic again and I cried, again!

I confess I also cried when I realized such a book existed.

It was like God telling me: "Don't be ashamed of being a nerd. You're unique and we love you."

I remember that glorious feeling :)

I was exposed to this book in my Algorithms class last year as the book to learn Lisp if we wanted to. The professor himself was a huge Lisper.

Counterpoint comic: https://xkcd.com/224/

Am I mistaken or is that Alan Kay smashing bugs in the comic? :)

LOL, that does look like Alan Kay, doesn't it? Not 100% sure what I was thinking at the time I drew it, but it's likely a coincidence...

LOL! He must be Alan Kay!!

"Gotcha!" -- Alan Kay smashing a bug

Little Schemer is worth reading if only to see a different approach to teaching. I really hope I can find time to read LoL.

I wonder if the author made new chapters free..

Reply on news.ycombinator.com