git rebase --interactive "ID^"

If you’re using Emacs/SLIME, it has a built in command (C-c C-d h) to look up docs in the CLHS, and you can download a copy of the CLHS (the link is hidden about halfway down the page) and configure Emacs to load the local files, for offline searching. E.g. I have this in my .emacs:

(setq common-lisp-hyperspec-root
  "file:/usr/local/doc/HyperSpec/")

There is also a SLIME command (C-c C-d d) to view the built-in documentation for any function, class, etc. This works for any symbol, even ones from libraries you have loaded. Unfortunately, not all symbols have any (useful) documentation. But, it will still tell you what arguments a function takes, what slots a class has, etc., even if the library author was too lazy efficient to add documentation strings.

Being a Lisper means getting to say you work in a self-obfuscating, condescension-granting “powerful” language so you can look down on people. That is the cult. That is the community.

It’s been decades now. Lisp isn’t going anywhere. Dozens of “inferior” languages have risen, producing operating systems, the internet, office suites, web browsers, software that has transformed the world.

Lisp hasn’t produced any of that. As far as I can tell, it’s produced a text editor (EMACS). That is its crowning achievement.

Lisp is a great intellectual exercise. You can learn a lot with it. But it’s not a collaborative language. It’s not. It’s a language for a single programmer. And it’s achievements are all largely at the scale of a single good user.

And if the IQ requirement for entering the Lisp cult is so high, I ask whether the allegedly superior productivity of lisp is due to its smarter people rather than the language?

Lisp is pretty annoying even if you don’t program in lisp. Programming forums get polluted with useless posts on lisp, useless posters talking about lisp, downvote armies of lisp. It’s so annoying.

A classic, emotionally stunted group of adolescents living in a ratty clubhouse in a tree yelling at all the kids in the yard about how cool they are, but not letting anyone up the tree.

Someday, someone may make a language like lisp, but somehow never get it branded lisp. But frankly, modern coding is more about good library support and API support than what dialect of turing-complete computation expression you use. The hated Java made its bones that way. But that’s a real-world concern, not one for the kids in the lisp clubhouse.

Are you serious? There is nothing at “stake” here. It’s just the mind of “CL” programmers players tricks on them.

John Croisant wrote a pretty detailed response as to “why” this is bad, but I’ll just say that the CL community needs to get its act together and maybe learn a bit from the Python community. A long time back I tried starting with a new language and asking help from the CL community of how it compares to other languages I know of (Java, C, C++). I was labelled a troll and in not so many words asked to GTFO. I’ll be honest and admit that a few replies were logical/mature but most “regulars” were more interested in flaming and showing off their chops rather than helping someone.

I was a little heartbroken and turned to Python community. The replies were friendly, they even went as far asking me the areas (text processing, internet applications, games etc.) I was interested in. Fast forward a few years and here I am doing hobby Python programming, teaching kids and helping out other beginner Python programmers on message boards.

But I guess CL programmers really don’t mind losing a rookie or two; after all, it’s much more important to protect what’s at “stake” and make sure that you “respect the cat”.

Peace.

IMHO, what’s really “toxic” about CL is its perception by many outsiders. So few people have ever programmed in Lisp, but everyone has some opinion about it, which often includes such notions as “weird”, “impractical” or “outdated”.

There are three main reasons I think we should try very hard not to lash out, or tell off, or be rude to other people, even if it seems like they really deserve it.

The first reason is that someone else will see this lashing out, and think that it is the appropriate way to deal with problems, especially if the person lashing out is a revered community member. Then maybe then next day, some well-intentioned newbie will come along, and inadvertently touch a nerve (maybe saying something like “which is better, lisp or scheme?” or “all these parentheses are hard to read”). Then, inspired by the earlier example of how to deal with people who you find annoying, someone in the community will be more likely to lash out at this newbie, even though the newbie meant no harm.

The second reason is that, for me at least, lashing out just makes me grumpier. Then I’m more likely to interpret something in a negative way, like assuming the newbie above was trying to be a troll. If I don’t take a break away from the computer, I’ll just get grumpier and grumpier, and start being rude to people who don’t really deserve it. Plus I will personally feel like crap and probably over time develop high blood pressure or some other stress-related disease.

The final reason is that lashing out often doesn’t help stop the annoying behavior, anyway. If they are a genuine troll, you are just playing into their hands. And if they are not a troll, but only unintentionally annoying, they will feel under attack and tense up, which makes them less likely to listen to reason or explanations. At most, the message they will hear is the same one your son heard from the cat: “stay away, I have claws and teeth”.

Perhaps that’s the message you want trolls and annoying people to hear, so they will stay away and you have successfully “defended” the internet. But they are only a tiny fraction of the people who will be driven away. There is always “collateral damage” in these situations, people who just quietly leave because the community seems hostile. Maybe one of those people would have written a really useful library in a few years, but instead they decided to pursue a less stressful career, like botany or accounting.