Re:Reflections of an “Old” Programmer
by zeveb on Friday October 07, 2016 @12:32PM
(#12661945)
> Clojure seems to not be growing … that was Lisp's best chance for growth I've seen in a long time
I wouldn't call Clojure a Lisp; it's a Lisp-like language with some interesting ideas, but not really Lisp at all.
As to why Lisp has failed to take hold where other languages have succeeded, I'll use a G.K. Chesterton quote: 'Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.' It's not that Lisp itself is difficult; it's that Lisp is different from lesser languages, and people have difficulty learning something different from what they're used to. Lisp has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found different and not tried.
I wouldn't call Clojure a Lisp; it's a Lisp-like language with some interesting ideas, but not really Lisp at all.
As to why Lisp has failed to take hold where other languages have succeeded, I'll use a G.K. Chesterton quote: 'Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.' It's not that Lisp itself is difficult; it's that Lisp is different from lesser languages, and people have difficulty learning something different from what they're used to. Lisp has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found different and not tried.
So … try it! You may be surprised.