The Spirit of Lisp | Hacker News Reader

The Spirit of Lisp

redlinernotes.com

38 pointsfogus5 comments

As a lisp nerd, I always like seeing lisp articles on HN, but this one lacks... substance. I know there were qualifiers at the beginning of the article, but I just got the feeling that if I didn't know what he was talking about, then I wouldn't understand what he was talking about.

That said, I'm always glad to see people interested in lisp, so I'm not too unhappy with the article.

I'm sorry I didn't get my point across very clearly. Perhaps my writing style is to blame. I often start writing when I "feel it" and figure out what I'm really trying to say as I go then go back and rework as necessary. Too top heavy, I suppose.

Anyway, my point was to celebrate the "heads down, working" nature of a lot of common lispers and to try doing some minor image adjustment. (Common) Lispers don't do terribly much promotion of the language and community or some of its shared values. That often complicates things because folks show up with the wrong idea.

I was hoping this would celebrate where "we" are and maybe clear some things up a little for outsiders. Seems I missed that latter goal. :-/

Keep in mind that those were just my impressions, and I could be completely wrong as to how others feel. I think your points are correct for the most part. I also appreciate that you are trying to promote the language, which can't happen enough.

> the "heads down, working" nature

That's the same way the Perl 5 community is often described. I don't know CL, but it would be interesting to read a comparison of Perl 5 & CL.

Xach: "*I really like getting together in space and time with other Lispers. An ideal future Lisp conference for me, personally, would … attract hundreds of cheerful and enthusiastic Lisp nerds…Navel-gazing and nostalgia would be at a minimum."

That's kinda what happened at the Clojure Conj last month. 200+ Lispers exchanging ideas, and unencumbered with baggage of the past.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com