| Ejacs |
[Sun, 16-Nov-2008 11:43 PM] |
So, Steve Yegge went insane and implemented a JavaScript interpreter in Emacs Lisp, and he has some things to say about that. Now, I have to point out that making fun of Emacs Lisp is kind of like kicking a puppy... a puppy who's been dead since 1981. But, at this I lolled: The best way to compare programming languages is by analogy to cars. Lisp is a whole family of languages, and can be broken down approximately as follows: - Scheme is an exotic sports car. Fast. Manual transmission. No radio.
- Emacs Lisp is a 1984 Subaru GL 4WD: "the car that's always in front of you."
- Common Lisp is Howl's Moving Castle.
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Thanks for sharing, I lolled at that too. Nice reference.
I drove one of those '84 Subarus for the longest damned time. The comparison is beautiful :-)
From the comments: 'A little bird told me that Elisp *is* actually being worked on; apparently it's going to grow lexical scoping and coroutines in the foreseeable future.'
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/6770232/249014) | From: ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) antifuchs
Mon, 17-Nov-2008 11:41 AM (UTC)
Re: Let joy be unconfined | (Link)
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As it has been for the last decade or so. A glorious foreseeable future awaits!
Does that mean he'd be Ejaced off?
Don't know anything about emacs, aside from the fact it's a programming language, but the image made me LOL IRL.
I once heard a song that insisted that God wrote the world in Lisp.
I wonder whether the song or the xkcd episode came first? I remember hearing the song several years ago. Not sure when, exactly.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/72003885/213436) | From: loic
Mon, 17-Nov-2008 4:23 PM (UTC)
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Ah yes, that's the one! I have a copy on my computer already somewhere though.
If God made the world in Lisp, I'm hoping there's still some time before she adds all the missing closing parenthesises.
(autoload 'balanced-toggle "balanced" "Toggle balanced ``mode''" t)
(autoload 'balanced-on "balanced" "Turn on balanced ``mode''" t)
(add-hook 'scheme-mode-hook 'balanced-on)
(add-hook 'inferior-scheme-mode-hook 'balanced-on)
That is to say, God's probably never typed a right parenthesis and never plans to.
Well maybe we're interactive and/or on a continual loop.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/16664965/991275) | From: j_b
Mon, 17-Nov-2008 5:12 PM (UTC)
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Awesome.
Hee. I think "[Steve Yegge] has some things to say about that" is true in the general case.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/4105900/904302) | From: romulusnr
Tue, 18-Nov-2008 5:08 AM (UTC)
how to be leet | (Link)
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1. Write something completely redundant in a language that isn't remotely suited for it, just because you "can".
2. Bitch endlessly about how unsuited the language was for doing such a common, redundant task.
3. Profit.
I'm pretty sure someone's implemented LISP in JavaScript, so yet again we have the opportunity for an infinite regress of emulation/implementation stacks.
I assume he's referring to the castle in the film. In the book, the moving castle was an actual castle, with towers and crenellations and stuff, and floated serenely about a metre above the ground. It was also almost entirely illusory.
I liked the book.
In the book, the moving castle was an actual castle, with towers and crenellations and stuff, and floated serenely about a metre above the ground. It was also almost entirely illusory.
I don't see how that serves any worse as an automotive analogy of Common Lisp. | |
