ds9soft

Reasons why I no longer develop my apps

The sense of security is provided by a good test suite (which you still need) plus SBCL type annotations.

Thanks for the correction.

That's true of any language or project to be fair. Big egos are everywhere in software development.

I also view it a as practical skill. I'm paid to write in a practical language which is mutating into a monster I no longer consider fun to write in.

But as I started a new project which eventually could be a business, then I can use whatever language I want, as long as it's practical for my use case. Why would I use any other language than one that I already know and like? It would make no sense. If you were to start your project, you would probably pick a language you enjoy using, rather than the one you are paid to use, unless it happens to be the same.

I didn't give any career advice at all. Why did you think this was it? My career advice would be to keep developing in whatever established and practical language you are using and get paid to use if that's what you want.

I have used CL before, but not in anger.

Yes. I used Clozure CL before and now I use Lem as editor. But I stick to SBCL (at least for now, though I can see myself using CCL again when it supports ARM64). As for LispWorks, I installed the Personal edition and played with it. I can't afford it (actually I can, but I have to find a reason other than tinkering).

Blog post author here: True. But there's no reason not to write when you are in anger about other languages that you do use every single day. I guess I was just venting and also reaffirming my intention to use CL. I have used it before in a previous job for a quick tool and I know it can be used for more complex stuff, which I have already started building.

I haven't been writing a major piece of software in Lisp for 10 years, so I can't write about that. But I can compare how it feels to write software in other languages vs Common Lisp.

And also, Lisp is a blip compared to Rust or Go right now, so I don't know why it's so terrible to talk about it. People will keep talking about the things they like as much as the things they don't like. And it's fine.

The wheel has been reinvented in different shapes and for different purposes for a long time. It's not necessarily a bad thing. You don't want to keep using stone wheels, or wooden wheels. Have you ever seen modern sci-fi wheels developed for very specific purposes and with specific properties that make them better than just plain-old wheel?

The whole C land, including build tools, old unix utils, is a security mess waiting to be exploited, and it's going to be exploited. Just look how easy it's to break everything with a single dot. It's time people realize we can't bet the world's security on C.

Please use Ada or Rust with modern tooling.

People want cheap software, and that’s what they get.

Well, it’s just a click away if you press “Download on the Mac App Store”. But I could add that info too. Thanks!

Damn, I thought I did.