Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderThe article doesn't discuss macros, which is one of the answers to "Why Lisp?" I didn't "get" macros until I read a footnote in the (freely available) book Practical Common Lisp. In chapter 7, it introduces the `dolist` macro. DOLIST loops across the items of a list, executing the loop body with a variable holding the successive items of the list. This is the basic skeleton (leaving out some of the more esoteric options): (dolist (var list-form) body-form*) ...For instance…
Writing code that generates and compiles code in Lisp is just like writing any other kind of code. Writing a C program that generates and compiles C code is a major pita in comparison, same goes for most other languages. Even if you slap a different syntax on top, it's still a Sunday walk in the park to write a custom compiler. https://github.com/codr7/snabl
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 488
- Total comments
- 410
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-05-07 | Why Lisp?First breakout · Best thread | lisper | 322 | 241 |
| 2017-08-06 | Why Lisp? (2015) | tosh | 3 | 0 |
| 2017-12-24 | Why Lisp? | nbmh | 6 | 0 |
| 2021-10-26 | Why Lisp? (2015)Latest 20+ point return | oumua_don17 | 157 | 169 |