[pro] Learning Lisp the Bump Free Way

[Alessio Stalla]

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 8:34 PM, Nick Levine <ndl at ravenbrook.com> wrote:
>> I can't find any libraries.
>
> I think this is one of the most serious issues which is blocking the
> growth of lisp use. Speaking as someone who recently gave up trying to
> write a book on how to use CL's libraries: locating them and knowing
> in advance of downloading them what their purpose is are major
> problems and not to be sniffed at.
>
> To see what I mean, go to http://docs.python.org/py3k/modindex.html
> and click on some stuff at random. What CL has to offer should be as
> good as this. For all I know, maybe it is that good, but the
> information isn't there. How would I know? (Or am I behind the times
> and this has been fixed now?)

Just a dumb example, I don't want to put up any Lisp vs Python war or
anything, but in the Python list you posted, I see only one mention of
"user interface". A common complaint against Lisp is that it has no
GUI libraries. It's just one data point that means almost nothing, but
my feeling is that people have much higher expectations from Lisp than
from other comparable languages. Lisp just cannot be like Java or C#
without an Oracle or a Microsoft paying the cost. That's why many
languages, Lisp and Python included, end up having an implementation
on the JVM and/or the CLR.