I, Tage Stabell-Kulø, do solemnly offer these my responses to The Road to Lisp Survey:
When did you first try Lisp seriously, and which Lisp family member was it?
CMUCL, 2002
What led you to try Lisp?
After having searched a missing free() once too often, I seached for a better language and found Java as a result of hype in media, but after having typed 'public static void main' once too often, I searched for a better language and found Python as a result of having met Guido, but after having seached for a missing indentation once too often, I found Lisp as a result of having read PAIP.
I've used emacs for 15 years and share nationality (and hence local newsgroups) with Erik Naggum, so I have 'seen' Lisp many times. But it was a friend whom I admire for his programming skills that persuaded me to bring PAIP as the only book on a month-long vacation in Christmas i 2001.
Where did your road originate?
Prototyping for research.
How far have you gotten in your study of Lisp?
Far enough to be convinced that what I can implement is restricted by my abilities rather than the language and its runtime.
What do you think of Lisp so far? The flexibility in all dimensions at times overwhelms me; I probably need to work harder.
Switch Date 2002
RtL comp-lang-lisp | RtL Paul Graham | RtL Emacs Elisp | RtL comp-lang-python | RtL Peter Norvig | RtL Erik Naggum