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A comment on Lisp as the Maxwell Equations of Software (2012). Parent comment

Re:Lisp as the Maxwell Equations of Software (2012) by Delmania on Thursday February 12, 2015 @09:55AM (#9038980)
No language that is developed is perfect on release. The timeless wisdom of Lisp, as you call it, rest largely on macros and lambdas. Those ideas are powerful in their ability to allow you to build abstractions and customize the language to your needs. Basically, Lisp allowed for DSLs before the concept of a DSL was even recognized.
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Re:Lisp as the Maxwell Equations of Software (2012) by vinceguidry on Thursday February 12, 2015 @09:22PM (#9042546)
You can't call it timeless if it took time to develop.
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Re:Lisp as the Maxwell Equations of Software (2012) by nights192 on Thursday February 12, 2015 @09:33PM (#9042587)
Yeah- you're right. Pythagoras' theorem obviously isn't timeless; the fool took time devising the formula!
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Re:Lisp as the Maxwell Equations of Software (2012) by vinceguidry on Thursday February 12, 2015 @10:25PM (#9042739)
Pythagoras did not discover the theorem, it's just named after him. He may have been the first to record a proof of it. It's conceivable that the very first peoples to become seriously interested in geometrical calculation would have discovered it as a matter of course. It does meet the definition of timelessness whereas Lisp does not.

As Wikipedia notes: "Mesopotamian, Indian and Chinese mathematicians are all known to have discovered the theorem independently and, in some cases, provide proofs for special cases."

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Re:Lisp as the Maxwell Equations of Software (2012) by nights192 on Thursday February 12, 2015 @11:09PM (#9042818)
... which is irrelevant. The point posed was that the ephemeral form heralds the so-called 'revolutionary' concepts, and stating that a prolonged delivery of the concepts invalidates their usefulness is the result of an overly literal interpretation of a common phrase.
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Re:Lisp as the Maxwell Equations of Software (2012) by vinceguidry on Friday February 13, 2015 @09:22AM (#9044416)
Usefulness? When did I say Lisp wasn't useful?
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