Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
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From: wware@world.std.com (Will Ware)
Subject: Re: Lisp is alive
Message-ID: <DyxI4r.64B@world.std.com>
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
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References: <3052746344930826@naggum.no> <843831257snz@wildcard.demon.co.uk> <3052849568663014@naggum.no> <843925667snz@wildcard.demon.co.uk> <3256F8DE.7D9D@franz.com> <844612962snz@wildcard.demon.co.uk> <joswig-ya023180000710961702220001@news.lavielle.com> <844717159snz@wildcard.demon.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 23:19:39 GMT
Lines: 27

Cyber Surfer (cyber_surfer@wildcard.demon.co.uk) wrote:
: > Write an article.
: Sure, but I only get asked to write about C++. Of course I'll
: suggest Lisp instead, after pointing out that I'm unable to say
: anything positive about C++.

Here's a thought: select some interesting problem that has a small, clean,
easy-to-understand solution in Lisp, but would be a horrible mess in C++.
Offer (to whomever it is that asks you to write articles) to write about
that topic, without specifying what language you'll use. Write the article
with both the Lisp listing and the C++ listing. Most people will remain
addicted to C++ but a few careful readers will notice that the Lisp listing
is smaller and easier to follow.

For extra credit: arrange some means to collect information back from the
readers, and find out what the typical reaction was. Find out what people
have in mind as legitimate reasons to avoid Lisp. Write a second article,
taking into account what you learned from the first. (You can imagine doing
several iterations of this, obviously; if it were actually done, it might do
a lot to grow the Lisp-using population.)

For super-double-bonus extra credit: write a Lisp program to do all this
for you.
-- 
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Will Ware <wware@world.std.com> web <http://world.std.com/~wware/>
PGP fingerprint   45A8 722C D149 10CC   F0CF 48FB 93BF 7289
