Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!cos!hqda-ai!grant
From: grant@hqda-ai.UUCP (Pete Grant)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: Re: So who's really using LISP?
Summary: Lisp is still the best
Message-ID: <58415@hqda-ai.UUCP>
Date: 19 Feb 91 01:52:29 GMT
References: <806@mara.cognet.ucla.edu> <18736@brahms.udel.edu>
Organization: Army AI Center, Pentagon
Lines: 21

In article <18736@brahms.udel.edu>, lkramer@brahms.udel.edu (Laurence Kramer) writes:
> Anybody in a research AI lab type environment that is programing in
> C rather than Lisp needs their head examined.  Lisp is clearly a better
> prototyping/research environment due to its interactive nature.  (Besides
> other benefits).
>
Right on.  Lisp is still the King when it comes to rapid software
development, especially in those situations where the goals are not
clearly defined.  At the Army AI Center, we use Lisp almost exclusively
for our work.  There's no way we could achieve anywhere near the same
productivity using C or any other "conventional" systems.  
 
> It is my opinion that the grads and undergrads that you mentioned are prob-
> ably programming in C because they don't know any better (i.e., have done
> most of their academic coursework in C, and been only briefly exposed to
> Lisp).
>
Yes, to be productive in Lisp, one must be proficient in it.  Proficiency
in any language takes time and practice -- and Lisp is no exception. 
I'm going into my 6th year of Lisp programming and am still learning
(and getting better), although the learning curve has flattened considerably.