As some of the other posters note Lisp has all the support you need for rapid development of large (or small) general purpose applications and with Common Lisp it's had the support for years.
It may be worth mentioning that much Lisp code is automatically generated using Lisp's macro mechanism. Lisp's simple syntax makes this possible.
Another point is that Lisp programs tend to be much shorter than programs in languages like Java / C++ for the equivalent functionality. See the figures in the study for example.
This makes them significantly easier to modify and maintain.
no more counting parenthesis when you add something
As an experienced Lisp programmer these comments indicate to me that you didn't persevere with the language for very long.
If most of your errors were type errors, did you start to declare types? You can do this in Lisp you know.
What 'crap' would you exclude ?
Nobody whose uses Lisp for more than a couple of weeks counts parenthesis. Correct indentation (as supported in many editors) eliminates the need for parenthesis counting.
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> IMHO, he's just biased to Lisp, and I'm just biased to C.
The difference is that he backs up such 'bias' with an argument - you don't.
As some of the other posters note Lisp has all the support you need for rapid development of large (or small) general purpose applications and with Common Lisp it's had the support for years.
Check out The Association of Lisp Users for lists of companies using lisp commercially.
Mark
It may be worth mentioning that much Lisp code is automatically generated using Lisp's macro mechanism. Lisp's simple syntax makes this possible.
Another point is that Lisp programs tend to be much shorter than programs in languages like Java / C++ for the equivalent functionality. See the figures in the study for example.
This makes them significantly easier to modify and maintain.
Mark
As an experienced Lisp programmer these comments indicate to me that you didn't persevere with the language for very long.