Should I learn Lisp before Clojure?

It depends what you want. Both options have their advantages. Clojure is widely used, but changes over time. Common Lisp did not change since the 1990-ties and you have a decades worth of programming examples that still work.

Is Lisp still relevant?

Lisp is the second-oldest high-level programming language still in use (after Fortran) and the first functional language. It was developed in 1958 and has changed since that time giving rise to lots of dialects and producing a significant effect on the development of other languages.

Is Lisp hard to learn?

Lisp isn’t hard to learn. It can be taught poorly, and it does have some “high level” concepts, especially if you’re coming from the imperative “classic” programming world.

Is Common Lisp worth learning 2021?

In 2021, this is an argument both for and against Lisp: Lisp implementations are sufficiently fast, so Lisp is best. Modern languages are powerful, so they are best.

Does 2021 still use LISP?

Lisp is the second-oldest high-level programming language still in use (after Fortran) and the first functional language. At present, the best-known dialects are Common Lisp, Scheme, Racket and Clojure.

What is the biggest problem with Lisp?

Lisp’s biggest problem is that there’s no overriding standard everyone sticks to. You don’t just have to pick between Common Lisp and Scheme; you have to pick between several incompatible implementations of Common Lisp and several incompatible implementations of Scheme, as well as other little things like Arc and Clojure.

How do you compare between CL and Lisp?

The usual comparison is between bad CL and syntax-optimized alternative X). You’ll still learn the basics, you can still use much of what you can read in SICP, On Lisp, The Little Schemer, etc. A lisp, even the wrong lisp, is still better than a non-lisp.

Is it worth it to switch to Clojure?

If you want avoid flamewars and you enjoy libraries go with Clojure. It’s small, it’s fast, and the community is helpful and non-dogmatic.

What are some good Lisp dialects for beginners?

Clojure is a great dialect of LISP that promotes functional programming. It runs on the JVM so you have access to any Java libraries you might be used to using. The site has great documentation and screencasts to help you learn. Another advantage is that it’s really easy to install, unlike a lot of other dialects.