Originally, the term
Lisp referred to the
ProgrammingLanguage which was the brainchild of
JohnMcCarthy. The invention of
Lisp dates back to 1958.
Nowadays, when unspecified, the term
Lisp either refers to
CommonLisp (a language), or the
Lisp family of languages, all of which share the
LambdaNature.
"Lisp is the world's greatest programming language - or so its proponents think." -
GuySteele and
RichardGabriel,
TheEvolutionOfLisp, History of Programming Languages II, Addison-Wesley, 1996
Lisp pioneered a lot of things, making it one of the
GroundBreakingLanguages. Some well-known examples include
GarbageCollection and the
NullObject (NIL).
Well-known members of this family, alive and deceased, include ...
New dialects of Lisp:
Lisp inspired languages include ...
The
AssociationOfLispUsers web site is a good starting point for Lisp information:
Also see
TheEvolutionOfLisp.
I have written an introduction to Lisp that can be found at http://p-cos.net/lisp/guide.html which you might find useful. --
PascalCostanza
SmugLispWeenies love to yell at each other about whether Scheme, which is, as far as the layman is concerned, a dialect of Lisp, is a Lisp or not. (see IsSchemeLisp) The fact that none have done so here is a testament to the sanity of Wiki authors. Thank you all! -- DanielKnapp
That'd be like doing your dirty laundry in public. For the plebs, we'll let it slide. :-)
Not to mention the fact that the list of things that `smug lisp weenies love to yell about' is highly politicized and inaccurate for some reason, I think. I know a lot of lispers, and I don't know any who behave by the stereotypes presented here and elsewhere. I would say, as a language community, it is better behaved than most. Perhaps that is just me, though. It *is* skewed towards experienced and talented programmers (as are many other `niche' languages, for similar reasons), and this group as a whole has little time for some sorts of newbie behaviour. On the whole, this is understandable, and for the most part stays reasonable....
Obligatory Quotes:
- JoelMosesOnAplAndLisp
- A Lisp programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of nothing. (AlanPerlis)
- Anyone could learn Lisp in one day, except that if they already knew Fortran, it would take three days. (MarvinMinsky)
- Lisp is a programmable programming language. (JohnFoderaro?)
- If you give someone Fortran, he has Fortran. If you give someone Lisp, he has any language he pleases. (GuySteele)
Lisp is like zen when you see it for the first time it's like something you already knew.
How is this sentence to be punctuated?
- Lisp is like zen when you see it for the first time: It's like something you already knew. (my guess)
- Lisp is like zen: When you see it for the first time, it's like something you already knew. (could be)
- Lisp is like zen when you see it: For the first time, it's like something you already knew. (probably not)
- Lisp is like zen, when you see it for the first time, it's like something you already knew. [not quite grammatically correct; needs a colon, semicolon, or fullstop after the first clause]
- Lisp is, like, zen. When you see it for the first time, it's, like, something you already knew. (the valley-girl or stoner version)
- Lisp is like zen, When. You see it for the first time. It's like something you already knew. (I'd really hate to be named When)
- Lisp is. Like zen when you see it for the first time, it's like something you already knew. (c'mon, it's zen we're talking about. Zen is.)
- Lisp is like zen. When you see it for the first time, it's like something. You already knew! (duh, it's that obvious)
Lisp is.
- Ahh, does this mean that Lisp thinks? ;-)
No, no. 'Is' is Lisp.
I'd like to request some of you who have experience in the area to please comment on
ImplementingLisp. --
TomStambaugh
The most interesting thing about Lisp is that
JohnMcCarthy was a professor in a university who taught Lisp as a mathematical idea. Then one pupil (Steve Russell) commented that if only the function
eval was implemented, then Lisp programs could be run. Therefore maybe that's the reason Lisp is the simplest language...
That's certainly *an* interesting thing about LispLanguage, but is it really the *most* interesting thing? If so, if the origins of a language are more interesting than the language itself, I'm not sure that's a recommendation ...
http://www.flownet.com/gat/papers/lisp-java.pdf
This is a summary of a study of Lisp versus Java which compares software development time and resulting program characteristics for several tasks. It's modelled on a similar study comparing C++ and Java.
The "study" is comprised of self-selected Lisp developers in a single problem domain. The kindest thing I can say about it is that it's an anecdote, not a study.
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.lisp/browse_thread/thread/3fac04dbd0366b67/1b1eabbc7c8368b3
The ugly URL above references a newsgroup thread with answers to the question: "What are you doing in Lisp, right now?"
As of today [4 May 08] that link is dead. Just speculating, but that could have a broader meaning within the context of this discussion...
[stuff moved to
IsSchemeLisp]
I've removed RqlShell from the list of "New dialects of Lisp" above. Of the other four implementations listed, three appear to have running code, and the fourth, Arc, though previously expected to be VaporWare, is notable because of its creator, PaulGraham. RqlShell is both vaporware and the product of an AnonymousDonor, and therefore not (yet) notable.
See:
EssExpressions,
LostInaSeaofParentheses,
ConsCell,
ForthVsLisp
CategoryProgrammingLanguage,
CategoryLisp
Lisp Language
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(last edited January 21, 2010)