Re: common lisp vs elisp.

[Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>]

* Hongyi Zhao <hongyi.zhao@gmail.com> [2021-06-20 07:45]:
> On Sun, Jun 20, 2021 at 12:04 PM Stefan Monnier via Users list for the
> GNU Emacs text editor <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org> wrote:
> >
> > 2QdxY4RzWzUUiLuE@potatochowder.com [2021-06-19 20:42:39] wrote:
> > > If you want a free solution, the de facto environment is SBCL
> > > (https://sbcl.org)
> 
> I can't open <https://sbcl.org>, the working website is
> <http://www.sbcl.org/>, based on my tries.
> 
> > and SLIME under Emacs.
> 
> Basically, this means that I can replace ielm with slime
> (https://github.com/slime/slime) for more comprehensive and advanced
> functionality.

IELM is for Emacs Lisp evaluation, you don't replace it, you can just
stop using it. 

Regarding programming language choice maybe you should say what are
your subjects of programming? Maybe you can still handle all things
with Emacs Lisp. It is well integrated environment while any other
Lisp is external. If you for example need some friendly features like
menu, that is very easy in Emacs Lisp because the graphical user
interface is already there.

(easy-menu-define cf-people-menu  global-map "People menu"
  (list "People" 
	cf-people-menu-find-people
	cf-people-menu-list-of-people
	cf-people-menu-collaborate
	cf-people-menu-add-new-people
	cf-people-menu-edit-people
	cf-accounts-add-accounts
	cf-mailing-list-menu
	cf-central-files-menu
	rcd-db-database-maintenance-menu
	;;hyperscope-menu-module-for-other-menu
	))

Thus making a menu would be pretty simple in Emacs. Such menu works
both in console mode and GUI.

Making an equal menu in Common Lisp requires various external
libraries and decision on the GUI type, and it will most probably not
work in console, thus remote programs through SSH would not be
compatible with such. Or Common Lisp would require explicit console
work. 

Various completion functions will also not work, the function
`completing-read' you will need to implement yourself.

When working with Common Lisp I recommend using external software such
as `fzf' or `rofi' for easier menu or choice selection.

On the other hand, not only Common Lisp is available, there are many
various dialects of Lisp like Scheme and Dr. Racket

Description     : A full-spectrum language with DrRacket IDE. Formerly known as PLT Scheme.
URL             : https://racket-lang.org/

Racket will work on various operating systems. 

Or GNU Guile:

Description     : Portable, embeddable Scheme implementation written in C
URL             : https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/

Emacs offers support for many Lisp languages and dialects, many other
programming languages, you may evaluate it in real time, compile, or
run it.


-- 
Jean

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