When did you first try Lisp seriously, and which Lisp family member was it?

Early 1998, with XEmacs Lisp. More recently, I have been studying and using Common Lisp by way of CLISP since early 2000.

Switch Date 2000

What led you to try Lisp?

I needed to use it to customize XEmacs. At first, I wondered why one was forced to type an incessant sequence of (setq this-variable that-value) expressions just to fix up the editor. "What a strange configuration file format," I thought. And then I read more, sought more examples, and talked to my co-workers, and they grinned as the light slowly came on: This is no mere configuration file; this is a program in a complete programming language. From that point on, I no longer considered XEmacs to be a program I use, but rather as a kit from which I build a constantly evolving set of programs.

I came to Common Lisp after reading various posts on comp.lang.lisp assailing (X)Emacs Lisp as limited and inferior to other dialects. I had understood that Lisp was a category of similar dialects, each trapped within their small worlds, such as (X)Emacs Lisp and AutoLISP. That frustrated me. The productivity and limpid enjoyment in Lisp were obvious, but I regretted not being able to use it to create a "real stand-alone" program. Common Lisp turned out to be answer.

RtL comp-lang-lisp | RtL Emacs Elisp

Where did your road originate?

I came to Lisp from C++, Perl, and a little Python. I like those languages just fine, but none of them rise above their shortcomings so clearly as Common Lisp.

Perl is problematic for its lack of consistency and clarity. I have written some pretty brilliant Perl programs, or at least I think I have, but I can't read them anymore. If one leaves Perl for a while, coming back to it is always an annoying relearning process. It doesn't feel like a language that will last forever. Maybe that's fine, as most of the programs I wrote in Perl were more or less intentionally temporary, but I'd rather choose to throw away my drawings on archival paper than see them disintegrate involuntarily on cocktail napkins.

C++ is problematic for its arcane and limited support for higher-level abstractions. The recent advances in template metaprogramming are amazing but embarrassing; it shouldn't take that kind of abuse to solve problems with elegance. I am slowly coming to see that my approach to programming is changing, and C++ is no longer the best fit. C++ can be twisted in strange ways to do wonderful things, but I am not sufficiently interested in keeping up with the latest baroque hacks to sacrifice that much attention and brain space for little gain. I'd rather move on to a language with more direct support for the rising level at which I wish to think and create.

How far have you gotten in your study of Lisp?

I can write small applications, but stumble over large program organization. My use of the language is narrow; I have yet to employ the condition system, to push CLOS beyond simple types, to make direct use of the reader, or to explore the optimization process.

Familiarity with the larger language will come. None of it looks too daunting to learn. I have been guided thus far more by necessity than interest; when I need more out of Lisp, I will learn more of it.

What do you think of Lisp so far?

I regret not having come to it sooner, and I cannot foresee growing out of it. Lisp is like the best kind of assistant: powerful, enabling, and invisible. The upper limits of complexity lie then in my own mind, not with the language.