When I discovered UNIX via Xenix, I already had ZX Spectrum (48K, 128+2A, 128+3), SAM Coupé, Amiga 500, Windows 3.x experience, so the world of UNIX OS architecture seemed quite interesting.
When I got to learn C, that experience already had showed me there were other means to make use of all computer capabilities.
So the time spent on UNIX land, meant I was initially one of those renegades trying to use C++ instead of C like everyone else.
Eventually the introduction to Smaltalk and Native Oberon spiked my interest to delve into their history, as I was specializing in compiler design.
That showed me a world much more interesting that what AT&T has ever produced.
A saner mentality regarding what computer safety and developer productivity should actually be like, but sadly failed in the market, because UNIX was initially available for free.
I would dare to say that the OS architectures and development stacks from Apple, Google and Microsoft are much closer to those ideas than whatever exists in the pure UNIX world.
Nah, the funding just dried up after Cold War ended and symbolic-based AI turned out to be a failure.
> Back in its days, LISP was revolutionary and ahead of its time. It gathered a bunch of followers who could reasonably be justified in thinking their language of choice had something unique about it.
Those "bunch of followers" actually invented half of the programming you use today, and also there were quite a lot of them during the Cold War. The history of computing is not like what C/Java books would like you to believe.
> The tech world moved on and passed them. And they ignored it, confident that nothing new or interesting could ever be invented after Lisp.
Maybe a bit, but for a good reason too. The tech world made a huge step backwards with introduction of Unix and C, and we're only slowly recovering and beginning to pay attention to the things people did before.
> It's the ultimate hubris: thinking that programming language science can ever reach an end.
I agree. But it's also hubris to believe it can not take steps in the wrong direction and enter blind alleys.