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by fermienrico 2014 days ago
On the fundraiser page: https://github.com/sponsors/Hexstream

> Common Lisp is the best programming language in the world!

Why? What an absurd, arrogant, misinformed and misguided claim.

1 comments

I would like to review your Common Lisp credentials.
A very bold claim considering https://cv.hexstream.expert/#education.

"Computer Programming at Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne (completed 4 terms out of 6) 2003 – 2005 (2 years) Montréal, Québec, Canada

Grade: Best of my class in programming

[...]

I introduced and explained the concept of an event loop to one of my computer science teachers.

I dropped out for personal reasons.", see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coll%C3%A8ge_de_Bois-de-Boulog...

Did you mean to present an argument of some sort?
Yes, that you should be better able to justify why you are the right person for the job; after all, it is you who is asking for money and questioning the competence of others. In any case, you are not able to convince me, and on the basis of the other comments one can assume that this also applies to others. It's not enough that you are very convinced of your own abilities.
My CV and other writings and most especially my work itself pretty extensively justify that I'm the right person for the job. Of course, it's probably pretty hard to tell without significant Common Lisp expertise...

My CV: https://cv.hexstream.expert/

My work: https://www.hexstreamsoft.com/

Also, you should probably ask Paul Graham what he thinks of college dropouts...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Graham_(programmer)#Educa...

"Graham received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Cornell University[7][8] (1986).[9] He then attended Harvard University, earning Master of Science (1988) and Doctor of Philosophy (1990) degrees in computer science.[7][10] He has also studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence.[7][10]"

You don't need to be a race car driver to debunk a sales man trying to tell you "This is the best car in the world!".

My advice to you is to be humble, you're clearly passionate about Lisp and turn that into a positive thing. Saying Lisp is the best language in the world is a sweeping statement, something a snake oil salesman would put across.

Common Lisp really IS the best programming language in the world, though. This is a statement of fact.

We could do a better job of proving it and demonstrating it to the world, and it would be easier to do it faster with funding.

"Lisp isn't a language, it's a building material." (Alan Kay, see e.g. http://www.paulgraham.com/quotes.html?viewfullsite=1).

I first used Lisp more than thirty years ago (back then on the VAX), but I still don't understand why it is supposed to be the "best programming language" (as some people continue to claim). It is not even obvious to me how to recognize a programming language as the "best" one. The advantage of the simple syntax is paid with several disadvantages. Praising Lisp for its simple syntax is like praising a protein for its simple structure consisting only of a chain of amino acids.

Simple syntax is just one of countless crucial features.

Here is just a trivial sample: https://twitter.com/HexstreamSoft/status/1334220825281654785

Fairly extensive advocacy pieces already exist, and we need even more sophisticated ones, and better infrastructure overall, and it would be much easier to do that with proper funding.

It does not help to "prove" an assertion by making further unsubstantiated assertions.

Why is Lisp the "best programming language"? How can we recognize a programming language as the "best" one at all? Why do "we need even more sophisticated" extensive advocacy pieces? What "better infrastructure" is required for what purpose?

I wish you all the best convincing people its the best language in the world.
Thank you.

I am aiming to help make Common Lisp (or a close descendant) a top 5 programming language by 2040.

I believe this is eminently achievable given proper approaches, and funding me would certainly help towards that goal.

https://twitter.com/HexstreamSoft/status/1213964177657794577