When did you first try Lisp seriously, and which Lisp family member was it?
I first seriously tried Lisp during the summer of 2002. I started with both CLisp and OpenMCL on my PowerBook G4.
What led you to try Lisp?
Several things led me to Lisp. Firstly, I was in the midst of The Great Language Exploration, during the course of which I experimented with 30-some odd languages. Secondly, the languages I'd been using for personal projects (C++ and Java) left me wanting. I was fed up with hacks like the Visitor Pattern designed to work around Java's broken dispatch system.
Where did your road originate?
I started off using BASIC on a Commodore 64 back in 1994. I then "graduated" to Visual Basic in '96. After than came C, C++ and x86 Assembler. I rounded out highschool in '99 by picking up Perl and Pascal. With college came free time and many more languages: Python, SML, Prolog, Forth, Cobol, Java and so forth. I remained primarily a C++ and Java programmer until the awakening that was Lisp.
How far have you gotten in your study of Lisp?
I have yet to write a substantial application in Lisp but I have a strong theoritical grounding. I've recently picked up the MOP and readtables.
What do you think of Lisp so far?
I love it. The syntax and theoretical power are truly astounding. I'm not 100% thrilled with ANSI Common Lisp. It's my favorite language thus far, but I still think it could use a rewrite.
Switch Date 2002
RtL Paul Graham | RtL Language Curiosity