When did you first try Lisp seriously, and which Lisp family member was it?
I first seriously tried Lisp using MITScheme to work the exercises in SICP and The Little/Seasoned Schemer. I am now using OpenMCL to learn CL.
What led you to try Lisp?
Although, I have been programming for several years (in the language that shall not be named. No, not that one, the other one. No, the other one. Yes, that one.), I recently came across a recommendation of SICP by Jamie Zawinski that was so persuasive that I bought the book and was blown away from the beginning. I downloaded MITScheme to work the exercises and have been digging it ever since. Also, Kent Pittman's replies on /. and Paul Graham's articles really inspired me.
Where did your road originate?
I read Metamagical Themas several years ago and worked through the examples Douglas Hofstadter gave when discussing Lisp. I thought the (lack of) syntax was cool and appealed on an intuitive level that I didn't fully appreciate at the time.
How far have you gotten in your study of Lisp?
I'm still a newbie and because I have to program in other languages at work and have a 18 month old at home, I don't get to spend nearly as much time learning as I would like, but I'm hopeful to learning a lot more. (Anyone know of any jobs learning Lisp?)
What do you think of Lisp so far? I think it's great in so many ways. Another thing that I like is how passionate the Lisp community is about it. I lurk on c.l.l and enjoy reading the "advocacy" posts just as much as the technical ones.
Please delete all but one of these cross-referencing tags: Switch Date 2002
RtL comp-lang-lisp | RtL Douglas Hofstadter | RtL Kent Pitman | RtL Language Curiosity | RtL Paul Graham RtL SICP