Do you really know Lisp ?

 
Performance is one important aspect that people might want in a language. One language that continually surprises me in this regard is Haskell. Seriously, it’s simply amazing. But performance is only one important consideration when using a language. Abstraction is another.
What about more powerful levels of abstraction such as meta-programming ?
Haskell has very powerful functional idioms but it(and many other languages) are left at the door beyond which even more unfathomable worlds of expression are possible in the way of meta-programming. Unfortunately, as cool as Template Haskell is, it does not gain Haskell entry into the warp speed meta-programming universe. In Lisp there is no distinction between the syntax and the AST. In Template Haskell the AST is modeled using explicit data types.
In Template Haskell, ordinary algebraic data types represent Haskell program fragments. These types modeled after Haskell language syntax and represents AST (abstract syntax tree) of corresponding Haskell code. There is an Exp type to represent Haskell expressions, Pat – for patterns, Lit – for literals, Dec – for declarations, Type – for data types and so on. You can see definitions of all these types in the module Language.Haskell.TH.Syntax.”.
Haskell is still a great language !
Beyond the door is another universe where Lisp macros make warp speed exploration possible. Lisp users travel this world freely and playfully looking for the next interesting practical joke to play on other language users(ofcourse that means writing more Lisp code !). Beware : travelling the universe at warp speed is quite dangerous, but probably not any more dangerous than driving your car. Can any other language pass through this door without embracing symbolic expressions (which make Lisp macros possible) ? Why not leave right now and find out ?
Seriously, I’ll be patiently waiting right here until you return. I’m not going anywhere.
Ah ! you’re back, great. Find anything ? Please email me !
Lisp does not need to prove anything.
The endless neophitic whining about Lisp not having a killer application is annoying. It’s annoying because we all know this is a very old joke. You do know it’s a very old joke don’t you ? There are many killer applications, they have existed for the past 50 years. One reason that they are likely unknown might be because they aren’t social networking sites or any of the other dehumanizing, reductive web 2.0 ilk that is so commonly marketed as ‘innovative’. In other words : certain persons might simply have tunnel vision or be plainly ignorant regarding Lisp’s so-called killer applications. Another reason is that the military, aerospace and other companies use Lisp but you and I will never get to see these applications(let alone the source code !). With Clojure becoming more popular this may all just change in the next few years : the web 2.0 places may start using the language. But really, any application written in Lisp is a killer application !
Something else to carefully note is how often Lisp’s most vehement opponents know the smallest amount of Lisp syntax and sadly they often know nothing more. Or they have enough of a superficial knowledge to argue with those that have been using it for decades. The ditto heads scream about there being too many parenthesis. Funny because Java code often has more parenthesis than Lisp, it’s just that they are in different places !
It’s my own fault, I sometimes try engaging certain superficial functional and Lisp crowds on the internet. Comments are quickly down-voted because of the prevalent mob mentality and inability for independent thought. Have we all not yet evolved beyond peer pressure ? Really ? Sometimes there are some gems when an independent thinker has something to add to the conversation instead of mob screech and splintered egos that ruin the dialog. I basically end up writing my own posts on my own site to summarize and lower the signal-to-noise ratio.
Not many comp-sci people would argue the value of studying boolean algebra, graph theory, algorithms or any of the other fundamental topics related to their field. Why the aversion to Lisp then ? Maybe it’s because some people(including computer scientists) have an aversion to Math ? I believe it’s because they have not taken the time to learn it. It’s not that Lisp is difficult to learn really. In fact newbie programmers find the syntax quite easy. What’s difficult is un-learning the imperative approach that they may have been used to for years. Computers are often treated as binary soup buckets ! Yes, binary soup buckets ! Stir, taste and then repeat the steps until the desired application flavor is acquired for whatever software broth it is that you might be cooking up. Scratch on the same location in memory until the desired outcome is obtained. This is the stuff of real nerd stand-up comedy folks. I could get into the Lisp machine rant but I’ll leave that for another time.
Even if a single useful Lisp application had still not been written yet, it would make no difference at all. Lisp stands on it’s own merits in just the same way that pure mathematics does.
In fact, Lisp basically IS Math : Lambda Calculus, Set Theory etc. but really an implementation of those ideas for a computer. This is one reason that certain mathematicians love Lisp. Interesting to note is that the first computers only existed in Math papers. For reasons why programming languages should be ‘mathy’ and why they are important to theorem proving, read Chaitin. Seriously go read anything by Chaitin right now.
If Lisp was a character from Star Trek it would be Q : despised and misunderstood by the many and loved by the few, which are usually savvy starship captains and smoking-hot babes of various intergalactic species. Women always seem to ‘get-it’ long before men do, why is that ? Something to do with their often higher BPF ?
Thanks for the applause, I’ll be here all week !
*BPF – Brain Plasticity Factor. Where IQ measures ‘intelligence’, BPF is a measure of a person’s ability to consider more than a single perspective. i.e. a flexible vector based intelligence as opposed to a more rigid scalar based intelligence. Low BPFs usually indicate a tendency toward mechanical thinking and often a pre-disposition to fundametal religious outbursts(sometimes fatal), in other words : they just aren’t fun to be around.
High BPFs on the other hand display far greater degrees of intelligence, actual wisdom(not only knowledge), an ability to think independently, increased happiness(not to be so quickly devalued – ask the Ruby guys), an incredibly high-tolerence for those with low BPFs, a certain way with the opposite(or same) sex(remember Einstein with the ladies !) and an all round appreciation for the uniqueness of the human being. Warning : these people can be really fun at parties !

• Clojure
• Functional Programming
• Lisp