Why is Python popular, while Lisp and Scheme aren't?

[Paul Sage]

Having worked a bit with LISP, in college, and Python, as a scripting
language for computer game work, my feelings about the two are very
different.  

I remember LISP was cool in that we could do some neat math proofs with
it, and it had applications that made formula translation (textbook to
code) quick and nifty.  However, LISP also was not obvious to me as a
'real-world' language because it just always felt like I had to recreate
the wheel when I used it for anything applicable to a real world
application.  We also nicknamed LISP - Little, Insignificant, Stupid
Parentheses.  Maybe that holds as my most common complaint, it was darn
hard to read someone else's LISP code quickly.

Python on the other hand has been pretty easy to pick up for the tasks I
need it to do.  I have been surprised at just how easy I can do
something useful quickly.  The other night I wrote a quick few lines of
code to move files around without even thinking about it.  

In all fairness, my impression of LISP was based around a language I had
to learn in college and the tasks that were assigned to me.  Python is a
language we are using at work, so I spend more time trying to figure out
what it can do in the real world. 

Note, by no means am I a software engineer.  I'm just an average Joe who
is mucking around, so that is my average Joe impression.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Oleg [mailto:oleg_inconnu at myrealbox.com]
> Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 6:54 AM
> To: python-list at python.org
> Subject: Why is Python popular, while Lisp and Scheme aren't?
> 
> Hi
> 
> I don't know much about Python, but I looked at this comparison
> between Python and Common Lisp (
> http://www.norvig.com/python-lisp.html ), and I couldn't help but
> wonder why Python is popular, while Common Lisp and Scheme aren't?
> 
> Oleg
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list