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by mdhughes 2797 days ago
Scheme moves forward because it's not a rotting corpse as LISP is pictured in that cartoon, it's a still-living language. Scheme's not admired for its purity and historic role, but because it's useful and fast. The R6RS/R7RS arguments are annoying (R6RS is right) but show that someone cares.
2 comments
blue1 2797 days ago
I don't think Common Lisp can be called "pure": it's a language full of compromises (not in the bad sense of the word). Scheme was considered the pure sibling in the lisp family, at least initially.
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znpy 2797 days ago
Please let's not get into the Scheme vs Common Lisp flame, it's pointless.

The discussion should be about how to keep the language alive and on par with the currently used technologies.

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blue1 2797 days ago
It was not my intention, it just sounded strange. I am not even sure whether being "pure" is a good thing or not :)
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mclehman 2797 days ago
I think they meant even though Scheme is pure, that's not the reason people admire it. Rather, its speed and usefulness engender that admiration.
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mdhughes 2796 days ago
Right, Scheme is used and those uses are reflected in the spec(s). The minimalism of Scheme is what makes it easier to optimize, but that's not why it's alive.

If LISP users want their variant to stay alive as well, they need to follow that model of actually using it and documenting how it's used.

Vengeful LISP zombies gonna downvote, of course, because they're bad people.

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Jach 2796 days ago
Why the hostility? Since we're thinking at the level of cartoons, here's a fun one: http://kvardek-du.kerno.org/2010/01/how-common-lisp-programm... Note the third row's distinct family orientation...
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mdhughes 2796 days ago
I'm not hostile, riffing on a cartoon is what humans call "humor".

While I have no problem with "Scheme is Spock", I'd put Captain Pike in his beeping wheelchair in the CLISP slot, and Clojure is clearly Kirk: All but married to the Enterprise.

But whooo, there's some tactless stuff in those PHP and Forth slots. And Javascript's a Scotty-type lang now, it's for getting engineering done.

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dleslie 2796 days ago
Scheme needs a standard ffi so badly.

And R7RS is better, now.

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