Programming?

I've dabbled with Python, Java and C. I'm using W3Schools to teach myself javascript currently, as I want to make some tools and web apps for myself. It's fun thinking of creative ways to solve problems, though I admit I'm not very good at it yet.

In a few months I time I want to try making a custom CSS start page for firefox that uses some custom widgets. For now, practicing the basics is all I'm doing.

5 months later
10 days later

Has anyone here used Common Lisp before? I really want to get into using it but I can't stand Emacs, which is by far the best tool for writing anything in that language. I've always been partial to vim and just compiling code the way I normally do. Am I missing out on that much by not using REPL?

    malmon The thing about lisp programming is that it's most powerful feature is that you can debug and step through programs while it's running using the REPL feature through heavy use of buffers, which Emacs is great at. Every forum thread or Q/A I've seen all generally say it's worth learning Emacs just for lisp programming. I'm just lazy and don't want to learn another ide before I even learn the language I actually want to study. To even navigate Emacs is an adjustment, let alone learn the features well enough to use it effectively. I may just have to bite the bullet and learn to walk before I can run. Currently I'm programming lisp in vim and then running it in sbcl from the command-line.

    Lisp is a surprisingly old language (1960). It's older than C (1972), was used by NASA on some of their deep space projects. It's primary use is list processing, and has some really cool types specifically for that purpose that I've never seen in a language before. It's just a cool and useful language in general.

        Minty Maybe there are some other options out there? Python also has the whole REPL system if you want to use it, but there are many options for frontends that interact with pdb.

            malmon There are some tools like I mentioned, I can run code in sbcl and use REPL in it just like python's IDLE tool, but I may need to write a script to use it in vim rather than setup a 2nd terminal. It's just a minor efficiency loss until then.

            I love IDLE for that very reason. It's all bundled together in a neat package, super efficient setup. @malmon Do you have a personal favorite IDE for programming in general?

              I thought Python only came with IDLE, which, from what I remember at least, is a far cry from being an IDE ^^'

              Personally, I love JetBrains IDEs. I only really use PyCharm, since for C/C++ I'm forced to use either CCS or VS at work.

              Whoops, major typo. I mean IDLE, just missed the L. Definitely not an ide.

              2 months later

              i have been really enjoying elixir and by extension the phoenix framework lately. it has gotten me motivated to code again, i love it.

              it's a been a bit of a learning curve for me as i usually use php, but i have some ruby/crystal experience so it hasn't been awful.

              a month later