That is a very difficult question to answer succinctly. From a technical point of view, Common Lisp has never been in better shape, particularly since the advent of Quicklisp. Just about any functionality you would want is available as a CL library through QL. Programming in CL today is easier than it ever was. But on the other hand, it does not seem to be attracting a lot of young blood. The cool kids all seem to be using Clojure or Haskell or Rust or, heaven help us, Javascript.
So I hope Lisp has a bright future, but I wouldn't be my life savings on it right now.
Re:Lisp in Space
by nonrandomstring on Tuesday May 03, 2022 @05:35PM
(#31253898)
> it does not seem to be attracting a lot of young blood.
In my experience "space" sells to the kids more than money, fast cars and fame. So thanks for your inspiring writing about your work - I'm looking for ways to convince the dean to let me switch some courses from Python (which has jobs) to Lisp (which has excitement, space adventures and really wild things).
LMK if there's anything I can do to help with that.
Racket might be an easier sell, especially when it comes to tooling since it's much easier to pick up for one course.
Now, how do you see the current Lisp landscape compared to your experience back in the 80s? Where are the good opportunities for Lisp nowadays?