Ask HN: Production Lisp in 2020?
Yep, I&#x27;ve used Common Lisp in production. Several times. I&#x27;m in the middle of writing a new app with Lispworks right now.<p>Common Lisp is generally the first thing I think of for any new work I undertake. There are exceptions, but usually my first choice is Common Lisp. It has been for a little over thirty years.<p>I&#x27;ve often worked in other languages--usually because someone wants to pay me to do so. I usually pick Common Lisp, though, when the choice of tools is up to me, unless some specific requirement dictates otherwise.<p>The objections you list might be an issue to some extent, but not much of one. Certainly not enough  to discourage me from using Common Lisp in a pretty wide variety of projects. I&#x27;ve used it for native desktop apps, for web apps, for system programming, for text editors, for interpreters and compilers. When I worked on an experimental OS for Apple, the compiler and runtime system I used were built in Common Lisp.<p>I&#x27;ll use something else when someone pays me enough to do it. I&#x27;ll use something else because it&#x27;s clearly the best fit for some specific set of requirements. I&#x27;ll use it when there isn&#x27;t a suitable Common Lisp implementation for what I want to do. I&#x27;ll even use something else just because I want to get to know it better.<p>I&#x27;ve taken various detours along the way into learning and using various other languages. I like several of them quite a bit. I just don&#x27;t like them as much as Common Lisp.<p>The pleasure I take in my work is a significant factor in my productivity. Choosing tools that offer me less joy is a cost I prefer not to bear without good reason. That cost often exceeds the advantage I might realize from using some other language. Not always; but often.<p>There was once a language I liked even better than Common Lisp. Apple initially called it &#x27;Ralph&#x27;. It evolved into Dylan, which, in its present form, I don&#x27;t like as much as Common Lisp. If I or someone else invested the considerable time and effort needed to write a modern version of Ralph, then I might choose it over Common Lisp.<p>For now, though, I&#x27;ll stick with the old favorite. It continues to deliver the goods.