@Karsten Johansson I'd say so. When I say Real World, I mean somewhere where one can earn a living with it. Sadly, I know next to nothing about quantum computing though.
@larry77 Lisp is a symbolic language, which lends itself handily to the symbolic data inherent to quantum computing. You'll see a lot of macro use as a result.
And Lisp is interactive. So is Python, but you don't have nearly the amount of malleability for experimentation with Python. The fact that you can move things around without breaking the code counts when you're dealing with multiple individual qbits.
Yep, quite a few places, though they generally don’t talk about it much. Quantum computing, chip design, logistics, and drug discovery are a few that come to mind.
If I were to make a broad generalization, they tend to be fields where deep subject and algorithmic expertise is more valuable than relatively more-easily-replaced developers.
Which is, of course, not to say that e.g. Python/JavaScript/etc developers don’t also need subject matter expertise, but the necessary understanding is generally shallower and less entangled with the algorithmic complexity.
(Again, painting with a very broad brush here.)
There’s also an axis of software lifecycle, too. If you’re constantly changing requirements it’s less valuable to remember last year’s nuances. Different economics than if you need to ship something stable for years.
@curtosis I have to say, the kind of job that would be looking for Lisp developers sounds like the kind of environment I might actually want to work in. I've been pretty depressed about the state of the modern tech industry.
The last dev job I had kinda burnt me out because every month or so, I was on to an entirely different project and never had a chance to develop that deep level of domain knowledge on anything. It was very frustrating.
We gather example companies that we find here: github.com/azzamsa/awesome-lis… Mind you it's nothing official. There are job offers sometimes on reddit, but also on the two LinkedIn groups, sometimes on Twitter alone, and sometimes you get a direct message (happened).
There are many in the quantum space, such as HLR labs. reddit's /u/stylewarning works for it. They released the impressive Coalton and even contribute to SBCL.
HLR, Ravenpack and Keepit are probably still hiring.
Personally, as a solo developer, I use CL more and more in my stack, ditching Python the more I can. I wrote about it: lisp-journey.gitlab.io/blog/ru…
Instead of extending a Python software I write independent modules in CL. It works well for standalone scripts too (read a DB, process data, send everything to a FTP, to a web service, by email…) It's such a joy.
Recently, the awesome-lisp-companies list was posted on HN, more people got to know it (look, this list is fan-cooked and we add companies when we learn about one, often by chance, don’t assume it’s anything “official” or exhaustive), and Alex Nygren…
I used Common-Lisp on a few professional production projects; a data transformation system for moving data between two companys' different systems. An event processing engine that applies weird complex rules to GPS tracking locations. A web micro-service or two to support some mobile apps. All of those services, except maybe the first, are still running in production. Plus, of course, a few personal projects here and there.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • •Karsten Johansson
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Karsten Johansson • •veer66
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Karsten Johansson
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Ironically nearly nobody understands quantum computers. Otherwise we'd be using them in a practical way by now.
Having said that, Lisp is generally the language used in developing around quantum devices.
Lorenzo Isella
in reply to Karsten Johansson • • •Karsten Johansson
in reply to Lorenzo Isella • • •@larry77 Lisp is a symbolic language, which lends itself handily to the symbolic data inherent to quantum computing. You'll see a lot of macro use as a result.
And Lisp is interactive. So is Python, but you don't have nearly the amount of malleability for experimentation with Python. The fact that you can move things around without breaking the code counts when you're dealing with multiple individual qbits.
curtosis
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Yep, quite a few places, though they generally don’t talk about it much. Quantum computing, chip design, logistics, and drug discovery are a few that come to mind.
If I were to make a broad generalization, they tend to be fields where deep subject and algorithmic expertise is more valuable than relatively more-easily-replaced developers.
Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
curtosis
in reply to curtosis • • •Which is, of course, not to say that e.g. Python/JavaScript/etc developers don’t also need subject matter expertise, but the necessary understanding is generally shallower and less entangled with the algorithmic complexity.
(Again, painting with a very broad brush here.)
There’s also an axis of software lifecycle, too. If you’re constantly changing requirements it’s less valuable to remember last year’s nuances. Different economics than if you need to ship something stable for years.
Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to curtosis • •@curtosis I have to say, the kind of job that would be looking for Lisp developers sounds like the kind of environment I might actually want to work in. I've been pretty depressed about the state of the modern tech industry.
The last dev job I had kinda burnt me out because every month or so, I was on to an entirely different project and never had a chance to develop that deep level of domain knowledge on anything. It was very frustrating.
sigue
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
Judy Anderson
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/~kdo/
KDO's Home Page
cosmos.phy.tufts.eduJonathan Lamothe likes this.
screwlisp reshared this.
Karsten Johansson
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •The software used by Presto was initially written in Lisp. I have no idea where it stands now, but I assume it's still the case.
Presto is the payment system for damn near every transit system where I live.
Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
aerique
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •I will be releasing (the alpha version of) a social media meta-client one of these weeks.
It works on desktop, Android and #SailfishOS. But I don't know if a one man shop counts for your question.
Jonathan Lamothe likes this.
Kat
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •mousebot
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •vindarel
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •We gather example companies that we find here: github.com/azzamsa/awesome-lis… Mind you it's nothing official. There are job offers sometimes on reddit, but also on the two LinkedIn groups, sometimes on Twitter alone, and sometimes you get a direct message (happened).
There are many in the quantum space, such as HLR labs. reddit's /u/stylewarning works for it. They released the impressive Coalton and even contribute to SBCL.
HLR, Ravenpack and Keepit are probably still hiring.
GitHub - azzamsa/awesome-lisp-companies: Awesome Lisp Companies
GitHubvindarel
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Personally, as a solo developer, I use CL more and more in my stack, ditching Python the more I can. I wrote about it: lisp-journey.gitlab.io/blog/ru…
Instead of extending a Python software I write independent modules in CL. It works well for standalone scripts too (read a DB, process data, send everything to a FTP, to a web service, by email…) It's such a joy.
On Discord, we see some are in big tech©, wrote their personal tool in CL and now it's part of the team's stack.
#lisp #commonlisp
Running my 4th Common Lisp script in production© - you can do it too - Lisp journey
Lisp journeyscrewlisp reshared this.
vindarel
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •You can find here 2 interviews of small teams using CL. One "secretly", one in a great open-source product:
"questions to Alex Nygren of Kina Knowledge, using Common Lisp extensively in their document processing stack"
lisp-journey.gitlab.io/blog/li…
"Arnold Noronha of Screenshotbot: from Facebook and Java to Common Lisp."
lisp-journey.gitlab.io/blog/li…
#lisp #commonlisp
Lisp Interview: questions to Alex Nygren of Kina Knowledge, using Common Lisp extensively in their document processing stack - Lisp journey
Lisp journeyPaolo Amoroso
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Here is a list of companies that "use Lisp Extensively in their stack":
github.com/azzamsa/awesome-lis…
GitHub - azzamsa/awesome-lisp-companies: Awesome Lisp Companies
GitHubKonrad Hinsen
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •hajovonta
in reply to Konrad Hinsen • • •@khinsen
I use it as a backend to augment #Emacs with multithreading capabilities.
@me
Daniel Kochmański
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Red Rozenglass
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Zenie
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Nyxt browser is written in common lisp.
I'd say common lisp is alive and well.