[smcn]

We use it for stock market analysis over at https://feetr.io. Honestly, I couldn't imagine a better language as it makes large tasks almost effortless. Plus the fact that I can connect to the running image and query data feels like magic and makes farming content for social media almost facile as I can pipe some of the data through cl-table and just post a screenshot.

[cipherself]

I am curious what your deployment story is like? i.e. do you deploy on k8s? on linux VMs?

[smcn]

We don't really overcomplicate it. A merge into development will pull the code onto the development server and then either restart lisp or recompile (depends on the application), and the same thing will happen when merged to prod.

We're currently experimenting with Guix for server configuration and it's nice but sometimes the context switch from CL to Guile does trip you up for 0.0001ms.

I think that the only difference with CL vs another language is that we can connect to the running image and create/recompile functions, and that can land you in a scenario where you think you have committed a function because it works on the image and so you build on it, then the image restarts and suddenly a whole bunch of code doesn't work. That will happen exactly once before you draw up a guide on how the team is able to use Sly/Slime.

...Me. It was me. I didn't commit the function.

[cipherself]

Interesting, I had forgotten about Guix and now is just the right time for me to try it out, thanks for reminding me.

> Me. It was me. I didn't commit the function

Haha. Yeah, modifying "live" systems without a strict mindsets tends to cause that, the worse is linux images running on production VMs which are partially specified by e.g. Ansible but there are little modifications here and there that are done by one person or the other and when that machine needs to be created you get a nice surprise.

[smcn]

Guix is in a really good place right now and I'd have no reservations recommending it. Of course, there is the initial onboarding experience which can be tough if it's a completely new concept but overcoming that is 100% worth it IMO.

> the worse is linux images running on production VMs which are partially specified

I could absolutely see that being worse in a really big and scary way. Lisp is great because if you try to call a function which doesn't exist, it'll scream bloody murder at you, so we got lucky that it was immediately picked up. But that's lisp for you, incredibly nice and easy to use.

[zetalyrae]

What's the scale of the codebase, in kilolines of code? Do you find the dynamic typing to be a problem at scale?

[smcn]

`cloc` has it at 24k lines of code so it's by no means a huge project but it's big enough where I feel like we would have encountered a large variety of issues. As of yet there hasn't been anything major. We have felt the lack of libraries at times but that just means we need to write more lisp, which is a good thing as lisp is fun.

Honestly, I don't know that I'd classify our use of CL as dynamic. We're happy customers of `deftype` and `declaim`. While it's true that not every function makes use of them, most of them do. So in that regard, I can't comment but that's the beauty of lisp: it's the language that you need it to be.

[belmarca]

Are you guys hiring?

[smcn]

We aren't currently, no, sorry. However, I'll reach out when that changes!

[belmarca]

Ok great!

[dunefox]

What are you using? CL?

[smcn]

Yeah, we use CCL for local development and SBCL for running code on servers. I hear that the development story is better with CCL due to improved error messages but I'm not sure how much I agree with that, however we continue the practice because it ensures that we're writing portable code and aren't tied to a single implementation.

[dunefox]

That sounds pretty cool. In my next life I'd love a Lisp job.

[smcn]

The old joke about lisp ruining all other languages holds true (at least in my experience), so it's a monkeys paw wish of yes, you get to work with lisp but you'll never be able to enjoy another job again.

[kazinator]

Although Lisp spoils you for other languages, but it also crystalizes and clarifies the other languages. As you enjoy the latter, the former will fade.

By clarifies what that means is that if something is being done badly in some language, your mind has a reference model for that being done well. That model can guide you around the distracting crap. It also gives you a vocabulary for talking about and thinking about it.

[dunefox]

There are worse fates to suffer than that.