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Comment by cheez | Hacker News Reader

Interesting. I suppose you use it for servers and you don't deploy SBCL to end-user machines?

> I suppose you use it for servers and you don't deploy SBCL to end-user machines?

AFAIK, most Common Lisp applications are deployed in a single binary, bundled with the lisp implementation. SBCL isn’t an exception, so if someone would deploy an SBCL app to end-users, one would build a self-contained application with the `sb-ext:save-lisp-and-die` function [0].

[0]: https://lispcookbook.github.io/cl-cookbook/scripting.html

This feature is a godsend when implementing your own language [0] on top since everything is wired up automatically when the application starts.

Compared to emitting C or whatever where you need to include code to stitch the runtime state together.

Makes compiling standalone executables so easy [1] it feels like cheating.

[0] https://github.com/codr7/lila

[1] https://github.com/codr7/lila/blob/master/main.lisp

I never managed to get SLAD to work with Qt bindings and stuff.

CL was my preference many years back, but practical usage at the fringes required me to be a SBCL expert. Sadly, I am/was not :-( so now I am a Python Pleb.

It is deployed to end-user machines. [0] It’s also open source. [1,2]

[0] https://www.rigetti.com/forest

[1] https://github.com/rigetti/qvm

[2] https://github.com/rigetti/quilc

Very neat! Any blog post on why you chose Common Lisp? I assume you wanted to build your own DSL with macros, but several other tools can do this (Smalltalk, Clojure, Racket, Chez Scheme, Julia... etc). I like CL and think it is as good a choice as any, but what made you decide to use it over some other options?

Not yet. Hopefully one coming soon!

I look forward to it. Do you have a favorite article on Quantum Computing for Dummies? How they work, what problems they're good at...etc. I'm sure many many exist, but I figure you have one you point people towards.

Really cool!

It is easy to make one file executables that handle command line arguments, offer a web or local UI, etc. And apps start instantly.

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