Chris Siebenmann
Today's current temptation: writing a techblog entry on how the Lisp machine model of systems is a mistake and we should ask for a completely different model if we're going to try to replace Unix.
(This is a reaction to the article you can read via https://lobste.rs/s/du21xr/why_we_need_lisp_machines if you so care.)
Chris Siebenmann
While I'm on Lisp machines, hot take: Lisp is a language of the past. Specifically, it is a language of a past when memory latency was a lot cheaper relative to CPU cycles than it is today. Today it lacks what you could call "mechanical sympathy" for modern systems, unless you do significant code generation transformations.
(And this is not because CPU and system designers are ignoring Lisp. They would love lower memory latency. They just can't get it cheaply.)
Matt Panaro
@cks can you at least summarize the blog entry as a toot in response to this inquiry? if you don't actually get around to writing said blog entry? I never used a lisp-machine, but i've only ever heard good things about them…
Chris Siebenmann
@eigen The short version is that global state and global namespaces are a bad idea, and even Unix demonstrates that (with everything shoveled into your home directory in various random places). We should be aiming for more compartmentalized systems, with stronger (but understandable) boundaries between them, and easy compartmentalization for things you do. Every project its own contained (name)space, etc.
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