[ILUG] LISP & Prologue

[Niall]

On Wed, 2 Feb 2000, Ross Lynch wrote:

> Just a few _basic_ questions about LISP & Prologue...
> 
> Which is easier first off? 

Lisp, to my mind, without a shadow of a doubt, if you have any previous
experience with procedural languages (and the question about C indicates
that you have :-) ) It's a much bigger leap to a declarative language
like Prolog than to Lisp's parentheses and prefix notation.

> Also, how are they in terms of easyness and comparibility with respect to C?

Again, as a procedural language, Lisp has a lot more in common with C than
Prolog has, once you get a grip on the list as a datatype (and a wonderful
datatype it is),

> And lastly, _is_ Linux the best environment for programming 'em in?

Well, Lisp machines are getting thin on the ground. Really, for both Lisp
and Prolog you'll be more concerned with the language than the OS. I've
never programmed in either under Linux, but a quick look at Freshmeat
shows a GPL ANSI Common Lisp and something called CMUCL which looks
interesting, and of course there's GNU Prolog and some others.

> (unbiased answers expected ;)).

But of course :-) If you learn Lisp, your head won't hurt as much and
you'll be all setup for customising Emacs and sawmill. The choice seems
clear to me :-)


Regards,


Niall  O Broin

P.S. Qualifications - once earned my living writing Lisp, and as an Emacs
user, I keep in touch. Did a Prolog training course for a few days ten
years ago, and found it very intellectually stimulating to try to think
declaratively, but I've never touched it since :-)