*Some* people behind Rhombus think that lisp syntax is a problem - we will see. My prediction is that it will not even leave a dent - people get all kind of strange ideas without having any kind of data to prove their claims. To me it looks like just another python:
It's a longstanding error to think Lisp would benefit from a more conventional syntax. People have been making this mistake since the very beginning (McCarthy).
Back in the day, Lisps and Schemes has had all sorts of excuses for not being used. To slow, GC is slow, too big, no libraries, too old, etc. etc. etc. All reasons that had some merit at one time.
But today, all of those excuses have been long gone for a long time.
Clojure is as mainstream and box checking as you can get, much less all of the other zillion projects out there.
And yet.
No great renaissance. Still talked about in hushed tones. "Only those snobby hacker guys use that."
And what single thing has remained and controversial about Lisps?
The syntax.
JavaScript demonstrated that a dynamic language with garbage collection, closures, and functional elements, and native data structures, can be used for everything from web pages to enterprise backends. Many of the things folks complained about in Lisp environments, JavaScript "suffers" from as well.
I know I'm not completely on top of things, but I think JavaScript has been reasonably successful and gained some popularity.
And behold, of all the things it does not share with Lisps: the syntax.
I'm reasonably confident if the hackers at Netscape came out with "S-Script" for their browser, it would be a historical curiosity. As desperate as people were to get scripting in browsers, they would have likely stuck with Explorer, VBA, and everything would be in a VBA clone today.
S-expressions have had their chance, and the wisdom of the crowds have not bought into them.
Ah, what would be a lisp thread without the inevitable lisps-decline-because-of-the-syntax-explainer, who will write a small roman about how bad lisp is and how no one cares about them /s
On a more serious note, anecdotes are not data, correlation has to be proven. Lisps may not be popular (a fate they share with most c-syntax language without corporate money) but also absolutely un-dead at that point. I am fine with it. In fact, as someone who earns good money with mostly JS, I couldn’t care less, I wouldn’t touch JS with a stick for my personal projects.
https://docs.racket-lang.org/rhombus/index.html