λ Lisp λ

I first learned about Lisp from Serial Experiments Lain, where there was one episode where some Common Lisp was briefly shown on the screen. I first watched it maybe four years ago, so I mostly had forgotten about it for a couple years. As I started using /g/ more frequently in the past couple years, I learned about the SICP (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs) book, which though I haven’t read it, apparently is intertwined with Lisp. In fact, if I recall correctly, the cover literally has a Lambda on it.

Now, I know that Lisp and Emacs are pretty intertwined as well, and I have already talked about wanting to use it, though I’m not exactly sure what the purpose of Emacs Lisp is when it comes to Emacs - I’d assume either for extensibility and/or configuration.

My problem with Lisp is that it kind of looks dumb. Here is a fizzbuzz written in Common Lisp. Look at all of these parentheses:

(defun fizzbuzz (n)
    (loop for i from 1 to n do
        (if (and (zerop (mod i 3)) (zerop (mod i 5)))
            (print "FizzBuzz")
            (if (zerop (mod i 3))
                (print "Fizz")
                (if (zerop (mod i 5))
                    (print "Buzz")
                    (print i))))))

(fizzbuzz 100)

Now, this isn’t all that I wanted to say about Lisp. Lisp actually seems pretty cool when it comes to actually using it. A while ago, maybe a year or so, I had an idea to use a full Lisp system; I would use a Lisp window manager (StumpWM), a Lisp text editor (Emacs), a Lisp shell, a Lisp terminal, and more. I made a post in some Lisp general thread on /g/, but unfortunately, I can’t actually find that post in any archive anymore.

If I’m being quite honest, I don’t think I’ll learn Lisp because I simply don’t see a use for it. If I want to do math, I’ll use R or Python. If I want to write a program, I’ll use C. I simply don’t see what it could be useful for in my usecase. Now, if I’m going to learn a new language, I will definitely consider it. But for now, I think I’m good. However, if any of you reading know of a reason I should learn it besides the fact that it was in Serial Experiments Lain and that the Lambda is a cool symbol, let me know.