Re: Amazon used lisp & C exclusively?



Ken Tilton wrote:
Frank Buss wrote:
Alok wrote:


http://www.cabochon.com/~stevey/blog-rants/tour-de-babel.html


Quoting the article, they are using more languages:

| C, C++, Lisp, Java, Perl, (all languages we use at Amazon),

And looks like they don't use Lisp very much today, because they have a
large C++ code base:

| We have 50 million lines of C++ code.

| and was expanding at 8 million lines a quarter

That was offered as a /problem/. Mainly because C++ sucks so badly.
(Author's characterization.)

Later on Ruby gets crowned The Perfect Language, with Python denounced
for the whitespace thing and general technical goofiness.

So look who made it to the finals: Lisp and Ruby.

Ruby was derived from Lisp, according to its creator.

| Ruby is a language designed in the following steps:
|
| * take a simple lisp language (like one prior to CL).
| * remove macros, s-expression.
| * add simple object system (much simpler than CLOS).
| * add blocks, inspired by higher order functions.
| * add methods found in Smalltalk.
| * add functionality found in Perl (in OO way).
|
| So, Ruby was a Lisp originally, in theory.
| Let's call it MatzLisp from now on. ;-)
|
| matz.

.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: Is Lisp ready to become popular?
    ... the lack of "standard" networking libraries and the like, the fact that free Lisps depend on Emacs as an editor and Emacs is _not_ the default editor of many developers, the unfortunate fact that Lisp syntax is so obviously different. ... It's generating a fair amount of conversation in the Java community. ... Tate is clearly impressed by Ruby, but he dismisses Lisp's chances based on its "history and reputation to overcome". ... or in a programming language ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: Best unix programming language or tool for dealing with plaintext DBs?
    ... >> I plan to learn both perl, php, and ruby, and also lisp, scheme, guile ... A perl solution won't be much longer here's a ruby ... It would be nearly as short with SCSH (which has an awk makro for such ...
    (comp.unix.programmer)
  • Re: A "killer" macro
    ... but then Ruby is dog slow anyway: ... Having notational convenience via macros plus efficiency is a big win ... From my perspective as a Ruby programmer learning Lisp, ... thought of having a more powerful language *and* orderof magnitude ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: A "killer" macro
    ... Or perhaps Lisp doesn't have one thing ultra- ... But it's true because of macros. ... indistinguishable from native Lisp - extend the language itself. ... Ruby is totally inefficient (besides what is implemented ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)
  • Re: Why I never got into Lisp
    ... solutions in languages like Perl. ... and what you tried in Lisp, and how Lisp mapped better, for you. ... While this can be done to some extent in any language, ... liked the fact that Ruby, like lisp, seems to have sensible defaults ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)