Lisp as an Alternative to Java

Joseph Dale writes "Lisp as an Alternative to Java is a detailed and well-reasoned study comparing Lisp to Java and C++ in terms of execution time, memory consumption, and developer effort. The author, Erann Gat, was the principal software architect for the Mars Science Microrover, the prototype for the Mars Pathfinder rover."

Comments

It's about the API

[The Ultimate Badass]

I don't care if LISP runs 500 times as fast as Java. It has a massively restricted API. People don't base their language choice on speed anymore. FORTRAN is still twice as fast as C, but everyone still uses C, for two reasons: FORTRAN is harder to learn, and C has more libraries.

Java's great strength is that it has a huge set of APIs, all in a unified form, making programming a less repetitive and painful experience. Java is for people who understand that recoding the same search tree three hundred times is not going to make them richer, cooler or a better programmer. LISP is for people with time to waste.

Yeah, but just like zsnes and xmame

[uchian]

It's still an emulator.

Re:ASSEMBLY IS THE FASTEST

[Mike Buddha]

Lisp may be fast, but assembly is the fASTeST.

Not to develop, not by several magnitudes, you l33t h4x0r, you.