One critic, echoing the voices of thousands, asks: “Surely if Lisp makes a programmer N times more efficient, then it would be easy to study scientifically. Have there been any studies comparing productivity?” I wish I could reply with the immortal words of Babbage.  But alas I cannot.  Sadly, I can indeed “apprehend the kind […]

A favorite conundrum of many Lisp aficionados is why the language appears to languish in disuse.  Talk of cultural problems, “the library question” (which usually boils down to nonsensical circular reasoning), too many parentheses, and other absurdities simply dances around the blindingly obvious explanation – one which is able to make sense not only of […]

As a child, I was quite fond of old-fashioned Lego bricks.  One very endearing but rarely discussed property of such bricks is their durability, bordering on the indestructible.  Almost any abuse inflicted on a Lego structure will, at worst, leave you with a pile of bricks entirely like the one you started with.  Even the most […]