Why Common Lisp is now the best programming language

Long gone are the days when programming speed hinged mainly on how quickly code could be written. In the modern era, the real bottleneck lies in identifying whether a program functions correctly. This turnaround time, previously inconsequential, now dictates the pace of development. Common Lisp emerges as the superior programming language in this context due to its minimal feedback loop.

It eliminates the traditional separation between read-time, compile-time, and runtime, enabling real-time updates as functions replace old versions instantaneously without requiring restarts. Furthermore, unlike most languages where errors crash the program, Common Lisp gracefully halts and opens a debugger, allowing developers to pinpoint and resolve issues efficiently.

This language's unique nature, built around list processing, enables code to be manipulated directly, facilitating the creation of macros. These macros provide the ability to extend the language itself, constructing domain-specific languages tailored to individual problems. The advantages of this approach become increasingly pronounced as programs grow larger.

Concise Lisp programs, often six to seven times shorter than their Python counterparts, reduce the number of tokens processed by language models (LLMs). Fewer tokens mean lower costs and larger context windows, allowing LLMs to fully understand the program's intent, hence making more accurate predictions. This reduced complexity also aids in debugging, a critical aspect when employing LLMs to modify code.

In fact, LLMs often misinterpret context, leading to unintended alterations. However, with Common Lisp, such mistakes are significantly less frequent. Despite being an ANSI standard since 1994, Common Lisp's stability is a significant advantage, particularly for user-modifiable products like enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Users can modify the domain language without disrupting the underlying functionality. Moreover, when developing products using Common Lisp, developers may face limited library availability. However, this issue is mitigated by the ease with which one can write or port necessary code, even with the aid of LLMs. Lastly, the perception that finding skilled Lisp programmers is challenging is increasingly moot.

In the age of LLMs, technical competence becomes more important than familiarity with a specific language, as highly capable individuals can quickly learn new programming paradigms. Therefore, investing time in learning Common Lisp could prove to be a valuable asset in building a successful, adaptable, and innovative software company.