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From: hbaker@netcom.com (Henry Baker)
Subject: Re: Why lisp failed in the marketplace
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In article <5fi086$8cr@fido.asd.sgi.com>, mikemac@engr.sgi.com (Mike
McDonald) wrote:
> >>>"HB" == Henry Baker schrieb am Thu, 20 Feb 1997 18:46:22 GMT:
> > 
> >  HB> Excellent point!  Such a class usually uses a really bad (slow)
> >  HB> implementation of Lisp, and no decent parenthesis matching
> >  HB> editor.  Lisp has come a long way from 1965, which is the kind of
> >  HB> Lisp those courses teach.
>   My first introduction to lisp was on an IBM 360-XXX in batch mode! I
couldn't
> figure out why anyone would want to use lisp as a result. Later, when we got a
> Vax 11/780 running BSD, I got hooked on Franz Lisp. An interactive environment
> for lisp makes a big difference.
> 
>   Mike McDonald
>   mikemac@engr.sgi.com

I'm no fan of batch processing, but _even in batch processing mode_, Lisp
was still more productive than other batch processing languages I've used
(Fortran, PL/I, assembly, Pascal, etc.).

(Yes, Virginia, there was life before emacs, just like there was life
before indoor plumbing. :-)
