When did you first try Lisp seriously, and which Lisp family member was it?
I had read the first chapter or two of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs and seen snippets of Lisp here and there. Then, in the autumn of 2002, my employer had a need for an embedded, interpreted language, and we decided to make our own Lisp dialect. I pretty much learned Lisp by implementing it. I've never written anything more than toy stuff (a dozen lines or so) in Scheme, and no Common Lisp.
What led you to try Lisp?
We wanted, among other things, a language that was easy to implement, and Lisp seemed to fill that quite well (much better than, say, an embedded version of Java). We also wanted a powerful language, and Lisp fits that description quite well. I was quite inspired by Paul Graham's writings on programming language design and ARC.
Where did your road originate?
I've written real programs (as opposed to toys) in, at least, Basic (the Luxor ABC-802 variant), Pascal, C, C++, AWK, and Python. The languages I use most are C and Python, with a strong preference for the latter, except when execution efficiency requires the former. The custom Lisp we make at work is, however, making me want to explore the Lisp world more (and also other efficient high level languages). For now, the only Lisp I write is at work.
How far have you gotten in your study of Lisp?
I know how to implement it now, and I'm learning ways in which to use it well.
What do you think of Lisp so far?
It is quite exhilarating.
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