Subject: Re: help! absolute beginner From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no> Date: 1998/12/20 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3123161087997428@naggum.no> * sshenoy@NOSPAMgol.com (Sudhir Shenoy) | On a related note, this is probably why we have a constant stream of | newbie questions on comp.lang.lisp. There is no publicly available | code in Lisp which does useful common tasks. if there were, the newbies would only ask different questions. | When I was learning Lisp, I looked in vain for a regexp matcher. this is one reason why I'm using and favoring commercial Lisp systems. it was there for the picking in the previous release, and had a pretty nice interface. it's included by default, now. it's because you insisted on free software that you had to reinvent the wheel. this happens a lot, and I find it immensely ironic. also note that the whole free software plan _was_ to rewrite the wheel so it could be free. when they can't keep up with the commercial world, and commercial users can get access to better source, it's time to reassess the goals and whether it is still worth pursuing them, or to declare _victory_ in that source is now more easily accessible, thanks in large part to user expectations that they should be and in large part to the complexity of software so it doesn't make sense to ask people to pay for finding bugs -- it makes more sense to reward them for fixing them for you. the world has changed since the free software movement started. I think the free software movement should realize that people aren't as much their enemies as they used to be, and find ways to be less combative where there is actually grounds for cooperation. instead, we get "non-free software is bad" from some quarters who have learned _nothing_ about the purpose of the protest and how to measure the success thereof. *sigh* #:Erik -- Attention, Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee! We have intercepted a coded transmission from Bill Clinton to Saddam Hussein that puts your life in jeopardy. Clinton is prepared to cease fire if all of you are killed by Iraqi terrorists, whom he won't prosecute. Be warned!