merits of Lisp vs Python

[Carl Banks]

Mark Tarver wrote:
> This confirms my suspicion
> that Lisp is losing out to newbies because of its
> lack of standard support for the things many people want to do.

Whoa there, that's a pretty big logical jump there, don't you think?

Consumer choice can never be boiled down to one thing; there are so
many factors.  No one knows the whole answer.  I certainly don't.  (If
I did, I'd be courteously turning down the Nobel Prize for Economics on
account of being so rich I really didn't need the extra pocket change.)

I have no doubt that what you say is a contributing factor, but if I
had to guess the main reason why Lisp is losing out to newbies, I'd say
it's first impressions.  When newbies see Python they say, "Ok, I can
kind of follow that, it doesn't look too hard to learn."  When they see
Lisp they say, "WTF IS THAT???"

It's kind of sad, in a way, that a superficiality would be so crucial.
(Not that I think outward appearance is all superficial--I think humans
have evolved and/or learned to regard as beautiful that which minimizes
effort--but it's not the whole story and not basis for a whole
judgment.)


Carl Banks