The underlying sentiment of this discussion is "why isn't Lisp popular", and it is EXACTLY this attitude in the Lisp community that is the reason why Lisp is not exactly the language of choice for the vast majority of programmers. You clearly demonstrate the attitude that has kept Lisp a marginal language in the job market and that will keep Lisp marginal if people refuse to grow up.
And despite what you seem to believe, a programming language is only as valuable as its community. Look at PHP for instance. A horrible mess of a programming environment when viewed from any angle, but still PHP is a *lot* bigger than Lisp is today, or has ever been.
Oh sure, I know all the standard lines on how PHP caters to the idiots and how Lisp, like an Umberto Eco novel, is designed to cultivate a more refined audience. It must be comforting to have an excuse for the vast majority of programmers ignoring Lisp.
I've been a programmer for about 20 years. I have developed production systems in about a dozen different programming languages and I have to say that it is rarely the language itself which decides if it is suited for a given project or not. It is the community, the libraries, the literature, the ease with which you can deploy solutions, access to enough competent people, influx of new talent. You need to be pragmatic and you need to be realistic.
Predictable reaction
You went on to prove my point.
The underlying sentiment of this discussion is "why isn't Lisp popular", and it is EXACTLY this attitude in the Lisp community that is the reason why Lisp is not exactly the language of choice for the vast majority of programmers. You clearly demonstrate the attitude that has kept Lisp a marginal language in the job market and that will keep Lisp marginal if people refuse to grow up.
And despite what you seem to believe, a programming language is only as valuable as its community. Look at PHP for instance. A horrible mess of a programming environment when viewed from any angle, but still PHP is a *lot* bigger than Lisp is today, or has ever been.
Oh sure, I know all the standard lines on how PHP caters to the idiots and how Lisp, like an Umberto Eco novel, is designed to cultivate a more refined audience. It must be comforting to have an excuse for the vast majority of programmers ignoring Lisp.
I've been a programmer for about 20 years. I have developed production systems in about a dozen different programming languages and I have to say that it is rarely the language itself which decides if it is suited for a given project or not. It is the community, the libraries, the literature, the ease with which you can deploy solutions, access to enough competent people, influx of new talent. You need to be pragmatic and you need to be realistic.
Nobody cares if it works for you.