Re:Using Lisp at Paragent
by cstejerean on Thursday October 25, 2007 @05:23PM
(#72675)
Languages become popular when they gain a critical mass of developers. They can get this critical mass of developers for more than one reason. Marketing, running fast on cheap hardware, etc. can all be things that can single handedly make a language popular.
A lot of languages however have become popular due to large PR budgets (Java and the .NET family).
XML became popular because it addressed the need to have a self-documenting data inter-change format so that governments and companies can be reassured that even if a vendor goes out of business they can reuse the data (similar reasons for the push behind ODF).
Lisp hasn't yet addressed the needs of the masses (develop X blog in 15 minutes with a human readable syntax), or be pushed into the enterprise by large companies, or have a large pool of qualified developers, so it hasn't become popular.
Personally I don't think it ever will become a mainstream language. It requires a different way of thinking that I'm not sure a lot of folks can grasp. Ruby might be as close to Lisp as a lot of folks are willing to get.
Re:Using Lisp at Paragent
by icey on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:35PM
(#72704)
Do you think it may be similar to the political phenomenon of not voting for / supporting a candidate because of his/her lack of perceived ability to win?
A lot of languages however have become popular due to large PR budgets (Java and the .NET family).
XML became popular because it addressed the need to have a self-documenting data inter-change format so that governments and companies can be reassured that even if a vendor goes out of business they can reuse the data (similar reasons for the push behind ODF).
Lisp hasn't yet addressed the needs of the masses (develop X blog in 15 minutes with a human readable syntax), or be pushed into the enterprise by large companies, or have a large pool of qualified developers, so it hasn't become popular.
Personally I don't think it ever will become a mainstream language. It requires a different way of thinking that I'm not sure a lot of folks can grasp. Ruby might be as close to Lisp as a lot of folks are willing to get.