Maq Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 I'm taking a class for non-imperative languages and the majority of the class involves LISP. My professor suggested that LISP is like learning Latin for speaking better English. You may never use LISP but it will make you a better programmer. Is this true? What are your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mchl Posted September 15, 2008 Share Posted September 15, 2008 I've never learned LISP in my life. I wonder, what mystic powers does it have, to improve my skills... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maq Posted September 15, 2008 Author Share Posted September 15, 2008 Haha that's funny. LISP does have a lot of parentheses, which is very annoying. But I hear it's a very powerful language that can accomplish a lot in a short amount of code, if you know what you're doing. I was just wondering about the major benefits of this language and some solid unbiased reasons why it's actually good to learn (besides recursion). Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maq Posted September 18, 2008 Author Share Posted September 18, 2008 Anyone else have opinions or thoughts on why or why not to learning LISP is good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zane Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Really, dabbling around in any kind of other language can help you improve ... rather drastically. all programming is is a bunch of jargon anyway. when I learned HTML for the first time....I was absolutely clueless. and I had no teacher to help me. nothing but homestead, geocities, angelfire...and I used hotspot.com for my searching back in them days. If I were to go back in time and mention PHP to myself or what it does...I wouldn't have a clue what to do with it. it wasn't until I learned what preprocessing actually meant that I could appreciate PHP. same concept with OOP. Fortunately for me....before I even heard the word OOP. I had taken a class in Java in a university I went to a few years back. They still didn't call it OOP, it was just they Java was coded. So by the time I passed my Java class and decided I came out with nothing on it anyway, I realized that PHP has a thing called OOP that looks really similar to Java's structure. So all in all, I can't say I'm a Java expert or anything....but if I didn't take that class.....I doubt I would know how to use OOP to this day. just have to say it one more tme....OOP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardRotterdam Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 strangely enough this ancient language is probably still used. latest thing I can remember that was developed using Common Lisp was Jak and Daxter. read this article I found about it if you like http://www.franz.com/success/customer_apps/animation_graphics/naughtydog.lhtml If you want another reason why to learn Lisp here is one for you. Developers that are familair with old languages such as Lisp, Pascal, Cobal etc ...are scarce. Most developers that are familair with these languages are most likely to be seniors around their 60's. So there are probably employers out there that are willing to pay a nice salary for this expertise. Other then that It's fun to see how things started and having an understanding of the evolution of programming languages. I think i'll start on Cobal one day just for the fun of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mchl Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 I don't now why you put Pascal there. It's not that ancient... I was learning it secondary school. Less than 10 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonLewis Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 10 years ago I don't think I knew what the internet was, or a computer for that matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mchl Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 You want me to feel old? Sorry... senior? ;P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardRotterdam Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 well maybe not ancient but classical at least i had a go at pascal 10 years ago too. that and turbo basic 15 years ago i think. and I said most likely to be seniors. then again what makes a language old C has been around since the 70's for example Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maq Posted September 18, 2008 Author Share Posted September 18, 2008 strangely enough this ancient language is probably still used Yahoo!'s shopping cart program is made in LISP. I have read some articles on LISP and they all say the same thing. "Although you may not use LISP, it will help you become a better programmer." I understand learning almost any language will help you become a better programmer but I don't have time to learn them all so I want to pick out ones that will help me improve the most. Anyway, it's too late. I all ready signed up for the class, non-imperative languages, so I will be learning LISP and ML whether I like it or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
effigy Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Scheme, one of the main dialects of LISP, is used in lilypond--a spectacular program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkWater Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Scheme, one of the main dialects of LISP, is used in lilypond--a spectacular program. Wow, that program is absolutely amazing. I play the cello and the guitar, so now I can easily make sheet music for my songs. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsidian Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 Scheme, one of the main dialects of LISP, is used in lilypond--a spectacular program. I second that. Lilypond is a wonderful app for any musician. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maq Posted September 30, 2008 Author Share Posted September 30, 2008 So what's the consensus? Is LISP worth learning? Or is it basically a waste of time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsidian Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 So what's the consensus? Is LISP worth learning? Or is it basically a waste of time? I personally think it is well worth learning. I've done the basic curve for learning LISP myself, and it definitely helps with breaking down the larger problems into manageable chunks. The implementation of LISP is a bit confusing at first, but I have been rather impressed with its speed and ease of learning. I also like the way they encourage you to learn proper use of the lambda notation: (every #'(lambda (n) (not (oddp n))) '(2 4 6 8 10)) Very cool stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maq Posted October 1, 2008 Author Share Posted October 1, 2008 The more the semester goes on I'm enjoying LISP more and more. I've always been the iterative guy, never wanted to learn recursion because I didn't have to and didn't really want to. Recursion kind of grew on me. It is also safer and involves less thinking if you know what you're doing. Thanks for your replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.