Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
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From: csc1alf@cabell.vcu.edu (Adrian L. Flanagan)
Subject: Re: Why do people like C? (Was: Comparison: Beta - Lisp)
Message-ID: <1994Sep19.221325.3567@cabell.vcu.edu>
Organization: Virginia Commonwealth University
References: <LYNBECH.94Sep15223604@xenon.daimi.aau.dk> <os2Psc1w165w@sytex.com> <35dcf9$jao@news.aero.org>
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 1994 22:13:25 GMT
Expires: Thu, 29 Sep 1994 04:00:00 GMT
Lines: 33

doner@aero.org (John Doner) writes:

>In article <os2Psc1w165w@sytex.com>, Scott McLoughlin <smcl@sytex.com> wrote:
>>I'm still _VERY_ curious (concerned?)
>>about why Lisp isn't more popular in "the trenches".
>...
>>        So why don't folks use Lisp to write this stuff? Blazing
>>speed,space,etc. aint that critical. What gives?

[long abstract theory deleted]

>I invite criticism of this theory.

>John Doner

I must strenously disagree with the original poster.  "Blazing
speed,space,etc." are that critical.  Particularly in the PC DOS
world with its 640K restriction, program size and efficiency of
compiled code made a tremendous market difference in acceptance of
early commercial programs.  Programmers writing in C had a large
advantage over programmers using the early Lisp systems, and lesser
but still significant advantages over Pascal programmers (although
some commercial apps were written in Turbo Pascal).  Casual users
may have been better off using Lisp, but they wanted to use what the
"big boys" were using, and the vendors of support tools followed the
pro developers.

The (relative) failure of Lisp has everything to do with Lisp
vendors' failure to understand (even now) the needs of their
marketplace.  Call it Ivory Tower Syndrome.
-- 
A. Lloyd Flanagan  a.k.a. "Wild Card"
Think:  What you do when you can't thwim.  -- Dexter's Disturbed Dictionary
