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by jjav
861 days ago
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> some kind of system to enforce style guidelines Are you talking about autoformatters like gofmt and its ilk? That won't enforce a consistent approach in Lisp which allows the programmer to infinitely outsmart any tool. Or if you're talking about written-down guidelines, that can help, for a while. But those morph over time too, and so does the new code but the old code lives on forever. Every time a new CTO/Chief Architect shows up, things change but the existing code doesn't. Since we're on the topic of large companies with decades-old codebases, things have changed many many times and you'll have a very inconsistent mess in your hands. It happens even in fairly rigid languages like Java, I can't imagine what you'd end up with Lisp. Has there ever even been any Lisp-based company with a 20+ year old codebase where a cast of tens of thousands of developers have worked on it over the years? I can't think of any but maybe I haven't heard of it. Lisp is awesome for a team of 1 (for about a decade I used to write all my personal use code in Lisp) or maybe a small tighly-knit group. Beyond that, I can't see it working well over the long haul. |
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> It happens even in fairly rigid languages like Java, I can't imagine what you'd end up with Lisp.
I imagine it would be about the same, with human factors dominating. If Lisp's flexibility pushed in the direction of inconsistency, the ease with which you could write codemods for Lisp would push in the direction of consistency.
> Has there ever even been any Lisp-based company with a 20+ year old codebase where a cast of tens of thousands of developers have worked on it over the years? I can't think of any but maybe I haven't heard of it.
I haven't heard of any either. If you hear about one, LMK if they're hiring.