Resources for programmers in other languages, managers or other interested
parties looking to evaluate Lisp:
-
Beating the Averages (by Paul
Graham)
- The author tells how he used Common Lisp to create Viaweb, a highly
successful e-commerce site later purchased by Yahoo! and renamed Yahoo!
Store.
-
Lisp as an
Alternative to Java (by Erann Gat)
- A study, inspired by previous
literature, comparing the performance and development time of Java,
C/C++ and Common Lisp/Scheme versions of a test program. Peter
Norvig later supplied an
additional implementation in Common Lisp of the test program used in the
study.
-
Python for Lisp
Programmers (by Peter Norvig)
- An essay comparing Python to Lisp.
-
Revenge of the Nerds (by
Paul Graham)
- The paper discusses the reasons of Lisp's power, when that power is
needed, and why such issues are often ignored.
-
The
Planning and Scheduling Working Group Report on Programming Languages
- The results of a study undertaken at the Space
Telescope Science Institute by the Planning
and Scheduling Working Group in order to evaluate the applicability of
various programming languages (Common Lisp, Python, Java and C++) to their
astronomical planning and scheduling systems. The report discusses the
reasons why Lisp is considered the best language for their needs. The group later issued a final report.
-
Lisp Power and
Functionality Still a Well-Kept Secret (by International Technology
& Trade Associates, Inc)
- A Lisp user survey that appeared in PCAI Magazine that evaluated the
perceived strengths and weaknesses of programming in Lisp. The link is to
the summary report. The more detailed survey results and findings are here.
-
Choice
of Language and Programmer Availability (by Erik Naggum)
- Here's a wonderfully cautionary tale from Erik Naggum on the old saw of
programmer availability and the problems of using non-mainstream languages,
harvested from usenet.
-
Why
Choose Lisp (by Richard Gabriel)
- A response by Richard Gabriel on the Feyerabend Project mailing list to a question
from a poster about why should a manager choose to use Lisp when a) you
don't get enough people, b) those people you get cost too much, c) you are
incompatible with the rest of the world, d) adapters and bug-fixes will
always be last for you.
-
Common
Lisp - Myths and Legends (Xanalys)
- A summary of some of the myths and legends surrounding Lisp with some good
examples of the types of development scenarios which are very well suited
for Lisp.
-
Lisp as an Alternative to
Java (by Peter Norvig)
- Peter Norvig adds some of his own comments (and code) to the "Lisp as
an Alternative to Java" article by Erann Gat (listed above).
-
Languages For the Masses
and Languages For Smart People (by Mike Vanier)
- A very good summary of the differences in building a programming language
that will be used by "everyone" versus a programming language that
will be used by very smart programmers.
-
Extremely
Successful Software (by Kenneth
Dickey)
- Some software projects are orders of magnitude more successful than
others. Here is the story of one such project and why things went so well.
-
Pascal
Costanza's Highly Opinionated Guide to Lisp (by Pascal
Costanza)
- A newcomer to Lisp presents a very well researched summary of the things
that make Lisp different from other programming languages.
-
My
experience with Common Lisp (by Jon Howard)
- A Slashdot posting by a Franz employee that describes his first
experiences with Common Lisp and how the language helped him become a better
programmer and more effective in his job.
-
Kent M.
Pitman Answers On Lisp and Much More (by Kent
Pitman)
- Kent Pitman gave answers to a whole series of questions about Lisp in this
Slashdot article as well as a follow-up
one.
-
Why Lisp? (by Larry
Hunter)
- Larry Hunter talks about why he uses Lisp for Bioinformatics research.
(PowerPoint format)
-
Comparing Lisp and Python (by Karl A. Krueger)
- An interesting list of some of the similarities and differences between the two languages by someone coming from a Python background.