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> , writing compilers, or parsers.

I think the OCaml guys and the Haskell guys(Parsec) might take exception to this.

See: http://flint.cs.yale.edu/cs421/case-for-ml.html http://www.ffconsultancy.com/ocaml/benefits/parsing.html

It's not that CL is bad for writing compilers or parsers (I've written a few parsers using it), its just that blanket statements like "Lisp is the best language for ..." isn't always going to be true.




Anything coming from Jon Harrop is questionable (ffconsultancy.com)


Some things come down to personal preference, but I don't think OCaml's static type system is more useful than Lisp's approach for parsers / compilers. Granted if your building avionics then type safety is important, but in the more normal case it's just not that useful.

Haskell is a pure functional language which is great for maintaining systems but I don't think it's a real benefit when writing them. If you want to write Lisp as a functional Language you can but when it's useful to break that mold you can.

PS: There is probably a better language out there for this stuff, but I don't know of it.




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