

A Common Lisp web startup test-case, two years after the Reddit switch - mqt
http://www.fallenfrukt.com/blog.php?id=5479

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gibsonf1
The only problem we're running into right now is getting SSL to work on
portable aserve running on SBCL on Ubuntu. (Our potential workaround until we
have time to update aserve is to run huchentoot for the ssl login page only,
as it is very noticably slower than aserve. If anyone out there has aserve
running with ssl on SBCL - please let me know.)

~~~
gibsonf1
Problem fixed :) <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=92201>

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patrickg-zill
If you are having problems with SSL, just use stunnel or use Apache's SSL with
the ProxyPass and ProxyPassReverse directives. Has the added advantage that it
is then trivial to split SSL encryption/decryption off to another machine if
needed.

~~~
gibsonf1
My co-founder fixed the SSL Portable Aserve problem on Ubuntu running SBCL :)
(I'm going to try to talk my very technical co-founder into writing a nice
blog about the whole experience if anyone is interested)

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michaelneale
Yes I think the "unable to find people" thing is bogus - unless you are
looking to pay bottom dollar and don't care at all (you just want "typists" as
some people call them).

But otherwise, people will probably beg to have a go, if you are prepared to
teach someone smart I am sure they could be productive in a few days, surely ?

~~~
marcus
There is a real problem in teaching someone lisp, when they had no prior
experience with functional languages and too much experience with imperative
ones.

You need to rewire your brain and think differently.

Which is probably the exact reason why it is so highly recommended that you go
out and learn it, even if you'll never write a single LOC in it
professionally.

~~~
michaelneale
I don't know much about common lisp (compared to scheme) but pretty much every
bit I have seen (which is not that much) has nothing to do with functional (in
the "strict" sense). I would think it would be easier to pick up then say
haskell, in terms of the "head adjustment" factor (which is also a bit of a
bogus argument, anyone who would have an interest in working on a startup
using CL would surely have spent some time in functional land anyway).

~~~
brlewis
You're right.

Here's a complete database-driven web application in Scheme:

<http://brlewis.com/map.brl>

Try the "Show Source" link there.

The same language is in use at my day job. When we hired somebody else to work
on it here, he was writing production code his first day. He left to work for
the Obama campaign. Someone in house with prior PHP experience took over, and
likewise was writing acceptable production code in a day.

~~~
michaelneale
great example.

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downer
PG on why Reddit switched:

 _"Incidentally, the last straw, I've been told, was some bug in CMUCL threads
that kept making the system crash."_

[http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.lisp/msg/574d19d5e7...](http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.lisp/msg/574d19d5e7e23bf4)

~~~
lucindo
Q: What would you do differently if you could do it all over again?

Reddit: Stick with Lisp. (...)

<http://notelab.infogami.com/startupschool2006>

~~~
downer
That sounds like something to score brownie points.

In reality, with their millions, there's nothing stopping them from re-Lisping
it. (Not even time considerations -- when they were in negotiations to be
acquired, they didn't do any development for _months_ [1]. If you can get away
with spending that much time not developing _before_ you have money, you can
get away with doing a rewrite _after_ money is no longer a concern.)

[1] _"We must have stopped doing real work for six months."_ \--
<http://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget>

