Path: g2news1.google.com!news2.google.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!news.bbs-scene.org!xmission!nnrp.xmission!not-for-mail From: Jason Earl Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Subject: Re: Future of lisp? Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:46:01 -0600 Organization: XMission http://xmission.com/ Lines: 27 Message-ID: <871uvkqcwm.fsf@notengoamigos.org> References: <62663f4e-eec0-47f2-85e7-b5ba6ed123bf@glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com> <877h68pinp.fsf@kuiper.lan.informatimago.com> <70029913-cca4-465a-8da9-0d7c069437c8@glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com> <9d3fshFthgU1@mid.individual.net> <87wrdf8ffi.fsf@kuiper.lan.informatimago.com> <8762kypjnk.fsf@data.earlhome> <87obypo27w.fsf@data.earlhome> <87r53k8hsr.fsf@sbcglobal.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.169.150.21.provo.static.broadweavenetworks.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: news.xmission.com 1315953961 18500 69.169.150.21 (13 Sep 2011 22:46:01 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@xmission.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2011 22:46:01 +0000 (UTC) Face: iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAADAAAAAwCAAAAAByaaZbAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFz UkdCAK7OHOkAAAAgY0hSTQAAeiYAAICEAAD6AAAAgOgAAHUwAADqYAAAOpgAABdwnLpRPAAAAAlw SFlzAAASmwAAEpsB4JJZDAAAAAl2cEFnAAAAMAAAADAAzu6MVwAAAaFJREFUSMe1VtuxxSAIzIz9 2Iyl2Aj1bBX0k5+LrwjGjJyPy2ROwtGNBJbVCwwwy1UNoOL3f+SBxkj15Lr4NsboN24DWMZxYQNA TjGmjC1gswJiqBbpDeANYMwXBFyAFB5L7ADMBcoSDgAFBSDHR2tA8ABMSB4AawB76pAnILsKx2lm 1VfpgUi3kxrySylRHdmQj40Jva2/jl8EY3Twv/phhsC9nIQR0hnAOUptYsL3RxvAk+YIH2AWsvTH GYBgKn8GaPYm5jNANaCQ8WfAzyH9x0crFfGl9X4QVdg8gEqN2KjBHi6V/iBq6iyAxTqd+Yvupwai VwM9LZkxQ6otihmS6H+mHlK5URwi0UQgWxHoxS5JagBSed7IzJRCallS2pg2QsamcGUFNSHgLZUv augJIUualv1Bv6+yVat1oeMq92s/mBBWQJH7dQX7CnpvWWs/4CazpHlB2RR1BFSzNGdIaTbbLil8 U76BKKU0GztapXP3C78bNYQ6MTQybY8OkIaITf9HPzyHkXE4YXs4mf5VDz+jAepj3RTQ3Ubv0SPy 9AcCrfKh0TBgvgAAACV0RVh0ZGF0ZTpjcmVhdGUAMjAxMC0wNC0zMFQyMzo1NDo0My0wNjowMKID BVQAAAAldEVYdGRhdGU6bW9kaWZ5ADIwMTAtMDQtMzBUMjM6NTQ6NDItMDY6MDB1KbZcAAAAAElF TkSuQmCC User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.0.50 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:32ArKFIy9vf25ZmM9lgfP7IiHfk= On Tue, Sep 13 2011, Raffael Cavallaro wrote: > On 2011-09-13 17:37:40 +0000, paul-donne...@sbcglobal.net said: > >> That's not quite true; someone else could write macros for you, and >> you'd have all the same advantages. > > Reductio ad absurdum: someone else could program for you, and you'd > have all the same advantages, so you don't need to use lisp (or any > other language) at all. Not at all. He is simply saying that you don't have to be a wizard to use macros that are already written. I already *use* lots of macros when I program in Lisp, despite the fact that I have written very few macros. Your argument only applies if you assume that you are the only person working on the piece of software in question. In most software written today that is not the case. You can use Lisp at a "Junior" software level. I know, I do so today. What's more, unless you were born straight from the skull of Zeus you probably progressed the same way that I am currently progressing. Were Lisp macros useless to you before you felt comfortable writing them. Of course they were. Jason