something i don't understand...

i am going to admit something from the start. i am not a well-seasoned
developer. my opportunities for coding have been few. i've probably
written less-than 1000 lines of code. most of that in perl, with some
vba, mumps, and sql thrown in for good measure, so my opinion may not
be relevant, but i'm going to ask my question, as we are allowed to do
on the internet.

i'm having difficulty framing the question. my question and the thing
that i don't understand has to do with the use of lisp as a programming
language for "large" applications. it appears that people have
difficulty understanding how it could be used. much of the discussion
i see centers around providing ".exe" like applications that someone
can run from their desktop. correct me if i'm wrong, but desktop
applications are not what i would consider large applications (unless
they're written in java, and then they're fricking huge!).

when i think of large, i think of the applications that were used in
the hospitals that i worked in. patient management systems that handle
potentially hundreds of users at any given time and potentially
millions of records. there are larger applications, i am sure, but my
exposure is in the health-care arena where the majority, the
overwhelming majority of applications are written in a language known
as "M" to those that code in the language and "mumps" to those who know
something about c.s. and such things. the veterans admin's medical
application (Vista) application (as of today) is written in mumps.
three of the largest p.m.s.s are written in mumps (IDX, HBOC/McKesson,
Epic).

i am not a comp sci phd or a programming language expert, but from what
i know about mumps, it's about as unusual a language as you would want
to find, but it as an effective language for building large records
based systems and as such, does well with patient management systems.

i have no intent in bashing mumps. i enjoyed what little programming i
did in the language. it was challenging to make sense of the existing
code base that i made modifications to as well as trying to figure out
how to do anything with the language. i'm using it as an example
because i've read some of the same arguments against mumps as i've read
about lisp. but damned if it don't get the job done.

mumps is an interpreted language (supposedly providing slower response
times than compiled languages, which i believe is a reason given for
not using lisp). it doesn't have a windowed environment as a native
part of the language (come to think of it, what programming language,
other than Tk does?). it's got a screwy syntax (if you'd like a treat,
lookup the comp.lang.mumps group and search for "D $O"). and you can
place any of the arguments against lisp here because some of the same
arguments are used against lisp. you think lispworks is expensive?
try getting your hands on a mumps environment (if memory serves,
although intersystems cache has free downloads for windows and linux,
they restrict user connections to one).

my question is this, why not lisp? why not lisp for patient management
systems, why not lisp for banking systems, why not lisp for retail
systems? i interviewed for a manufacturing company that wanted a mumps
programmer for a pos system, why not lisp for a pos system?

i'm not familiar with all of the software system out there and all of
the domain specific needs, but i have to believe that lisp has the
ability to address most needs as well as any other language as any, so
again i ask, why not lisp?

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: something i dont understand...
    ... |> boils down to Lisp not being popular, leading to management fear of ... MUMPS ... it was *the* language to use for hospital information ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: Chestnut Lisp translator
    ... but a full fledged programming language that's capable of ... Lisp has seen some success in widely different areas: ... as an implementation language for symbolic computing applications ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: something i dont understand...
    ... >> heard of Mumps, ... and like lisp programmers, mumps ... paying large amounts of money for applications written ... >> in a language that some folks have never heard of. ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: Executables: Why all the abuse?
    ... Cameron> applications and want to share them on the net. ... Lisp was developed for programming large systems, ... Common Lisp has been used in embedded systems, ... concise demonstrations of theoretical language power) or Dylan ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: Joel hammers the final nail into Lisps coffin
    ... programmer with extensive experience in the language. ... If you have been writing applications in Java for 10 years and just learned ... Lisp you are probably better off sticking with Java. ... I can't say there have been zero successes with Lisp (Naughty Dog, ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
Loading