[Openmcl-devel] A plug for nx1-combination-hook

[Glen Foy]

On Sep 3, 2009, at 6:57 PM, Ron Garret wrote:

> IMHO, being able to actually run the more compact form would be a big
> win for pedagogical purposes if nothing else.  I think it would also
> potentially win some converts who might be on the fence between CL and
> Scheme.  (And if we can integrate H-M type-checking we might win some
> Haskell wannabes as well. :-)


Just a general comment --

Many of us come from an MCL background, Clozure as well as list  
members.  We are used to MCL's lean, even Spartan IDE.  We know that a  
Lisp System doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles to be really  
powerful.

The problem is new users don't know that.  Alex Repenning has  
commented on this numerous times.  He teaches young programmers and  
knows what he's talking about.  We need to give CCL some flash.  Young  
programmers are used to XCode and Eclipse.  They expect toolbars and  
project managers.  They expect to be able to single step their code  
and to set break points.  They expect to be able to push a button and  
have their applications built and launched.  Etc, Etc. Etc.

We need to be better salesmen for Lisp in general and CCL in  
particular.  We need to package it better.  Presentation is everything.

I could imagine someone like Marco Baringer doing a series of videos.   
Marco is a virtuoso Emacs/Hemlock user, and just watching him work out  
in the Slime video was a pleasure.  He could explain Lisp's and CCL's  
unique features:  code generation, higher level functions, embedded  
languages, interactive development, multi-methods, Lisp macros, method  
combination, etc.etc.  He could explain the importance of native  
thread support in our multcore future.  We're talking YouTube "most  
frequently viewed" here.  :--)

In addition, we need a collection of interesting, flashy  
applications.  Alex's XMLisp is a wonderful large example.  Ron's Y- 
combinator is a small, but truly cool example.

Cool is important.