
Roswell: a Lisp installer and launcher for major environment that just works - vmorgulis
https://github.com/roswell/roswell
======
EuAndreh
One of the coolest parts is how Roswell with scripts: you can run a local
file, or in a custom directory just for scripts, and even better: you can
install scripts from libraries.

This way, if a library needs to expose some functionality to the terminal,
just add a Roswell script =]

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hardwaresofton
So I found this README hard to understand, as someone who doesn't work with CL
on a daily basis (but is familiar with lisps like clojure, and having used
SBCL before).

I'm worried about how bad fragmentation is, and why a tool like this is even
needed. This is a "full stack environment" for CL web development? I don't
even know what that means... not all lisp dialects are similar so why are they
stuffed under one tool that treats them like they are?

There's so much about this tool I don't understand, but maybe that's fine,
since I don't use SBCL or any lisp dialect(other than clojure) very often on
any real projects

~~~
zodmaner
Yeah, that paragraph is a bit misleading (and the whole readme could use some
more love).

Roswell is basically a tool that help you quickly setup a Lisp development
environment. You can think of it as Ruby Version Manager (RVM) for Common
Lisp. It can be used to install the latest version of the Lisp implementation
of your choice (which is really a great feature if you use Debian stable or
Ubuntu LTS), easily switch between various implementations, and even switch
between different versions of each implementation. This makes testing your
Lisp code across multiple implementations a breeze, especially when you use
Roswell with CI tools.

That the majority of Roswell developers are web developers and use it to
develop, test and deploy web apps are merely a coincidence. Roswell can be
used to develop all kinds of applications.

Regarding the fragmentation issue, on Linux there are basically two major open
source implementations that most people use nowadays: SBCL and Clozure Common
Lisp (CCL). So it's hardly an issue at all.

~~~
hardwaresofton
Thanks for the clarification -- I might suggest that the word "web developer"
not be used, because it obscures the meaning -- when you say "web developer"
and "lisp", I instantly think Clojurescript (maybe it's just me). Now that I
understand it I get how useful it is -- I've always found it difficult to
wrangle the different implementations of common lisp.

If I'm understanding correctly, what you mean is people who develop web
application servers, or the "backend" part of websites/apps.

Also it would be wonderful if the first thing in the readme was just how to
set up with a specific language. A "getting started" section might be just the
trick, to show that you can install roswell, and then install your desired
implementation of common lisp super quickly and easily.

Also thanks for sharing on the fragmentation front -- I thought SBCL still had
a bunch of competitors.. Though I know racket has quite it's share of
proponents.

~~~
zodmaner
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not the developers of Roswell, but I'll make a
pull request to try and improve the readme.

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mmaul
Roswell, is a "killer app", as far as using Common Lisps with Continuous
Integration and Coverage services (TravisCI, CircleCI, Coveralls et al) is
concerned. It is not an interface to CI systems it is an Lisp Implementation
manager and makes using CI services dead easy event multiple lisp
implementations. Roswell also provides a handy hash bang scripting for Lisp.

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freebasedgirl
If you live in the unix image this is great. The moment you want to do your
work exclusively inside the Lisp image it ceases to be useful.

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baldfat
This is a neat system, but I have to say Racket has been dead on easy and just
works on Linux and Windows. I feel like I am starting to be the Racket
Evangelist but it is such a great experience after javascript, Python, Haskell
and old school Assembly and Pascal.

~~~
hellofunk
Does Racket offer types or C interop? I love lisp but am missing those in
Clojure.

~~~
mbrock
Yep.

[https://docs.racket-lang.org/ts-guide/](https://docs.racket-lang.org/ts-
guide/)

[http://docs.racket-lang.org/foreign/](http://docs.racket-lang.org/foreign/)

~~~
hellofunk
I'm curious how much Typed Racket is actually used in the wild. I wonder if it
is as esoteric as, for example, Typed Clojure, which is falling a bit out of
favor for lots of folks. Would I be likely to find a lot of people who use
Racket in this way, or is it a niche part of the community?

