> informatique > misc > temp-xif > lisp-the-quantum-programmer-s-choice-motivation-to-learn-lisp

Lisp, The Quantum Programmer's Choice - Computerphile

Computerphile - 2018-05-16

Quantum computing is so new it needs a flexible language for programming - Robert Smith of Rigetti Quantum Computing explains why he uses this 60 yr old language for cutting-edge work.

Meta-Programming: Coming Soon
PDP-11 & Zork: https://youtu.be/gYng1yypNCA 

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This video was filmed and edited by Sean Riley.

Computer Science at the University of Nottingham: https://bit.ly/nottscomputer

Computerphile is a sister project to Brady Haran's Numberphile. More at http://www.bradyharan.com

kMv9C3N9 - 2018-05-16

I wish that this video would show how Lisp is a good language, rather than just saying it can do this, that, and the other thing.

Finn El Humano - 2018-05-18

But you can have for loops!! what else do you need!

DarkShroom - 2018-05-18

it's better for quantum because quantum is better for money

DarkShroom - 2018-05-18

only they know it so they can sell it to idiots

Sergio Díaz Nila - 2019-01-11

search for "gerry sussman" here in youtube

Stephan Brun - 2019-06-17

Indeed, most languages that are Turing-complete can do this, that, and the other thing. Doesn't make anything unique.

Evan Belcher - 2018-05-16

/examples/

tohopes - 2018-05-17

HAVE U TRIED GOOGLING LITERALY ANY ISNTRUCRTIN MANUAL ON LTHKEN O NASUYFGN? ANWEFNAETUGAO SDCIONASDO CINASODI CN
-jmw150

OneOverCosine - 2018-05-17

XD

Scabbage - 2018-05-17

+tohopes I didn't get the joke till I read other comments +1 for satire

ɐɯɹɐʞ ɐıuɐɯ - 2018-05-17

In next video Meta-Programming: Coming Soon

Bujar Murati - 2018-05-17

tohopes this should become a meme

Bright Shadow - 2018-05-16

This is a sermon singing the praises of Lisp, but providing little beyond 'Lisp is great!'. If you want to know more about the actual details of the language, consult another video.

jmw150 - 2018-05-17

Have you tried googling literally any instruction manual on the language? Would you also like them to add 1 + 1 for you?

QWERTY man - 2018-05-17

their video on imperative vs functional actually explains a bit of haskell.

we don't see anything here.

Drunken Monkey - 2018-05-17

@jmw150 No one asked for them to teach us the language, just to show what they were talking about. They presented an argument, but failed to support it properly.

drout - 2018-05-17

exactly. this video is useless (sorry)

Lohe221 - 2018-05-20

jmw150 brah you got owned in all the other comments

Vladimir Yuriev - 2018-05-16

(((((((((((((((((((((( a thing ))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

theOBjames - 2018-05-16

(-> if you're scared of parens you can just extend the language)

Madison Kallisti - 2018-05-17

Sunn (((((((((((( O ))))))))))))))

speedbump0619 - 2018-05-17

((((((((((a thing]

j2theohno - 2018-05-17

(((((((((((((((((((((( a birb ))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

theemacsshibe - 2018-05-18

* A is not defined

Alan Vitullo - 2018-05-16

...so this is an intro video in a series? My vote is for more code please!

Björn Nyblad - 2018-05-16

Show me some code!

Carl Franz - 2018-05-17

Wow. That was astonishingly non informational.

Laura Halliday - 2018-05-16

When I first encountered LISP back in my undergrad days the prof described it as an interesting language where you can write interesting programs that do interesting things.

DarkShroom - 2018-05-18

so as unspecific as this guy?

Anastacio Guerrero - 2018-06-01

Used it in autocad back in the day, except they autolisp, before windows version of the program came out.

4BoltClevo - 2018-05-16

I was waiting for him to write some code on his paper and then the video ended. I didn't learn anything...

jmw150 - 2018-05-17

Have you tried googling literally any instruction manual on the language? Would you also like them to add 1 + 1 for you?

4BoltClevo - 2018-05-17

Hey slick, congrats, you found google. Why don't you send me the lmgtfy 1+1 link for a real original joke?

aufarz - 2019-08-04

(+ 1 2)

max - 2018-05-16

17 people didn't find an editor that balances parentheses for them.

Joe K - 2018-05-16

I love Common Lisp. I really wish I could use it more often.

ElagabalusRex - 2018-05-16

Like with many Computerphile videos, I just can't appreciate why this topic is important without concrete examples. Glad to see another video is on the way.

MamboBean - 2018-05-17

4:29 I thought most time programming is spent debugging!

pitthepig - 2018-05-17

I expect something more of an edutainment channel in youtube than having simply a guy sitting in a chair and talking without any graphic support or any examples. This is lazy video production.

Paul Paulson - 2018-05-16

I'd like to hear about "Smalltalk" next

Thaddeus Pawlicki - 2018-05-17

PROLOG! Now THERE is a real language! Because . . . . "jwm150's FEELINGS"!

Abeltensor - 2018-05-17

Smalltalk is a great language with some fairly revolutionary ideas like the images (which are used heavily in dart as snapshots).

DarkShroom - 2018-05-18

yes i love the way it fits on an punchcard!

awesome, that's just what i want out of a modern language, thanks

DarkShroom - 2018-05-18

i recon i'm gonna have 1000 primes when i get my mail next friday

Jochem Bonarius - 2018-05-16

Ha, LISP! yes! This was one of the first languages I learned. It was so long ago, I had forgotten the name.

Aditya Sriram - 2018-05-17

loved this intro, would be great to have some more concrete examples of how he uses it in quantum computing

Remilia Scarlet - 2018-05-16

Finally a video with Lisp in it! My favorite language <3

Paula J. Bean - 2018-05-17

<3 Clojure and ClojureScript

unlokia - 2018-05-17

You needed to have had Richard Stallman doing this video; then again, I supposed you wanted it to be less than 2 hours in length, so...

... OR... someone with a lithp...

csreindeer - 2019-03-04

I bless your computer my child

Ozymandias - 2019-08-26

unlokia Ask Knuth

matt b - 2018-05-17

A Colonel of an idea. Not quite as advanced in rank as a General idea, but still a solid idea nonetheless.

lithiumdeuteride - 2018-05-18

So you're keeping your ideas Private?

puellanivis - 2018-05-18

Reading these puns is corporal punishment…

tohopes - 2018-05-20

Not such a great idea if you're programming on a Commodore..

spaceLem - 2018-05-31

It's "kernel"!

iPro, Inc. - 2018-06-01

...but that's not funny...

Adam Kelly - 2018-05-16

Just want to say, Most quantum programs are not actually using lisp, most are using small, proprietary DSLs for quantum computing, such as IBM's OpenQASM

Michele F - 2018-05-18

This video is just a lisp service.

tohopes - 2018-05-17

Lots of vague assertions with no code? What kind of computer programming video is this?

Ninja9191 - 2018-05-16

Haven't worked with Lisp, but I have used Scheme. These languages are fun to use.

Elite7555 - 2018-05-16

And they are hard to maintain (write only), macros can make them incredible hard to use (new semantics), and they are pretty slow because of language design. They might be "fun", but I would never use them for serious work, although there are some pretty big projects in Clojure.

unlokia - 2018-05-17

Scheme, or "Thceme"? Thorry, I have a lithp.

Ninja9191 - 2018-05-17

Elite7555 oh yeah, I agree. I think they're useful for understanding the programming concepts, but I can see how it might become a mess if I start to use them for large projects. Though the design principles are also the things that make them appealing (keeping libraries small, having simple code, etc)

Krasen Penchev - 2018-05-17

Check your facts. There are not much slower than C since the 90s.

Johannes Degen - 2018-05-17

Very funny Igor.

TheFcukinBest - 2018-05-26

1:45 Show a flat earther this clip, see if they can make something of it. 😂
“Saying this is not to scale is a conspiracy!! It’s flat!…… They’re all flat!!” 🤣

thom1218 - 2018-05-19

That's THHH-imply amazing!

1906Farnsworth - 2018-05-18

I noticed there was no discussion of having someone else understand his code. When he extends the language, does he publish an API? Is the code itself documented? Maybe it won't matter...
Maybe it will.

delwoodbarker - 2018-05-17

Webmaster, the two floating popups to related articles are covering up the two static links to related articles. The latter are inaccessible. Both in Chrome and Safari.

Kew Akl - 2018-05-16

I am glad that there is a follow-on video. We waited for 6 minutes 12 for any examples to justify his 'fondness' of Lisp. Nothing. Not a bit of code - except a allusion to an assembler-version of a For Loop construct.

Nakitu oWo - 2018-05-16

Hadn't thought Lisp was that flexible. I'm pretty burnt out from template programming in C++, so I ought to give Lisp a try.

Zeedijk Mike - 2018-05-16

I worked with Auto LISP in the late 80'ies early 90ies. I think/presume they are related. It was one of the first languages I actually used.
Strange syntax - but when you get used to it, it's quite fun and amazing. Even made a Mandelbrot Fractal program for AutoCAD. Slow as hell but fun to build.

Emmanuel Delay - 2018-05-16

Yeah, I do this today. I should try making the Mandelbrot Fractal some day, sounds fun :)

Beautiful Korea - 2019-10-26

You mean "compiled to binary"? It seems like a wrong question and the interviewee didn't care. If you write things in assembly, you still need to compile it to binary.

Ebumbaya ' - 2018-05-16

mhh. maybe I should look into lisp myself a little more before but... Defining a concept and later working with that... can't every ordinary language do that? I mean if there wasn't a for loop previously you could surely just define a function for() with more basic instructions inside, right? Maybe lisp goes deeper. I should check that out.

Niko Nyrhila - 2018-05-16

An biased suggestion: try Clojure which runs on the JVM with Nightcode as your first IDE ;) I was truly amazed!

For sure almost all languages are Turing-complete but some take just 1 line of code and others might take a dozen or more.

TribeWars1 - 2018-05-17

Well not in C at least. Try writing your own for loop expression (call it myfor() or whatever) and it won't work. The arguments get evaluated before they get passed to your for loop construction.

zebop111 - 2018-05-17

Use functions.

typedef void (*for_init_t)(void*);
typedef BOOL (*for_cond_t)(void*);
typedef void (*for_loop_t)(void*);
typedef BOOL (*for_body_t)(void*);
void* myfor(void* ctx, for_body_t fb, for_init_t fi, for_cond_t fc, for_loop_t fl)
{
fi(ctx);
while (fc(ctx) && fb(ctx)) fl(ctx);
return ctx;
}

Dangn Abbit - 2018-05-30

zebop111 Nice

Adrián Zúñiga - 2018-05-17

I can't click on the “meta-programming” video at the end. There's no link and does not appear in the general search.

What happened to it?

Nick - 2019-02-19

; ; well then
(((((it makes sense) that the "gnu" project) prefers this language) so much
(due to their philosophy of "modularity"))
)

Gummans Gubbe - 2018-05-17

A decade since my loops looked like for(int i=....). Now I am counting cores and dividing into shared/private variables.

I have never seen a quantum computing problem though.

Kew Akl - 2018-05-16

I always found Lisp to be defun fun()
Oh, I used AutoLisp to add functionality to AutoCAD

Rikard - 2018-05-16

Lithp

7bace60d - 2018-05-19

A LISP programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of nothing @ Alan Perlis

Oofer - 2018-05-17

I can't decide if that's Tom Scott or John Green...

Romy Ilano - 2019-08-20

He’s so cool!

BRMC888 - 2018-05-17

I enjoyed the video but you don’t show an example of the code, not even something simple, would be better if you showed us how some of the concepts he was exposing actually appear

Absynth - 2018-05-16

I can't believe I took a couse in university which started with "lisp is a functional language" and YouTube is now informing me otherwise

jmw150 - 2018-05-17

He is just wrong. It is literally an interpreter for lambda calc. It is as functional as functional languages get. The meta-programming part is using a function on the program itself.

WorBlux - 2018-05-17

But you can change state, do I/O and sequence operations in a way that doesn't require special syntax,

speedbump0619 - 2018-05-17

exactly. The existence of 'set' means it's not purely a functional language

jocal - 2018-05-18

There's no such thing as a functional language.

Raechel GV - 2018-05-16

This guy almost convinced me to try LISP.

Almost.

SwordQuake2 - 2018-05-17

So is there an extra bit or not?

WASSCE Tutorials - 2018-11-05

"...can change the structure of the language itself to make it more suitable for a particular application...". This is actually how I think of Object Oriented Programming!!!

Kalernor - 2018-05-16

Great, now I want to learn Lisp.

canned_ doughnuts_ - 2018-05-16

thounds cool, I think I give it a thot

canned_ doughnuts_ - 2018-05-16

im not funny

Stephan Brun - 2019-06-17

So it's a non-functional language? :D

jca111 - 2018-05-17

This video need examples