Interview with Patrick Collison

Re:Interview with Patrick Collison by DonaldFisk on Monday March 08, 2021 @01:01PM (#26389133)

Almost 20 years ago, I met Patrick at a Lisp meetup in a pub in London where he talked to us about Croma, the Lisp he developed for Web use. I learned that he was looking for a Lisp machine, and as I had a Symbolics 3630 which I hardly ever used, I arranged for someone to pick it up and deliver it to him. I wonder if it still works and if he is still using it.

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Re:Interview with Patrick Collison by pc on Monday March 08, 2021 @01:26PM (#26389505)

Donald! It's great to hear from you. I still have your Lisp machine and in fact booted it last time I was at my parents' home in Ireland last year. Using one was quite formative for me... Lisp machines significantly elevated my bar for what developer experiences could be and, on some level, that whole line of thinking is what led to Stripe.

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Re:Interview with Patrick Collison by kylegill on Monday March 08, 2021 @02:39PM (#26390494)

Thanks for sharing! What a neat moment to observe a friendly in-person interaction, reconnected via the internet years later.

To me it seems like this is an example of how "the explosive expansion in access to opportunity facilitated by the internet" isn't limited to business opportunity.

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Re:Interview with Patrick Collison by tim333 on Wednesday March 10, 2021 @09:00AM (#26411266)

Twitter update from pc with a photo of the machine: https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/1369320446827528192

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Re:Interview with Patrick Collison by DonaldFisk on Monday March 08, 2021 @06:34PM (#26393144)

Hi Patrick! Glad you that found it interesting and that it still works. I rescued it from a former employer (BT). Initially I was offered a Symbolics 3660 which was a lot bigger and had a 30 amp plug with round pins, but I turned that one down.

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Re:Interview with Patrick Collison by miguelisolano on Tuesday March 09, 2021 @10:27PM (#26407422)

By the way, Patrick, while you're around: any plans to GPL CROMA at some (remote) point in the future? Have always been curious to see it...

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Re:Interview with Patrick Collison by miguelisolano on Tuesday March 09, 2021 @09:07PM (#26406942)

Interesting. In what sense(s) is the developer experience in Lisp machines different?

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Re:Interview with Patrick Collison by v-k on Tuesday March 09, 2021 @12:37AM (#26395774)

He's 32 now. So he was 12/13?

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Re:Interview with Patrick Collison by DonaldFisk on Tuesday March 09, 2021 @04:24AM (#26396945)

Probably in 2005.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/limerick-pupil-s-web-languag...

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