Beating the Averages

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As programmers, we always ask ourselves what languages we should learn, in what languages we should improve or even if we should learn more, in order to be competent professionals.

In this article, Paul Graham writes about the development of his company called ViaWeb, whose software was developed mainly in the programming language called LISP. LISP was the key because it gave them a significant competitive advantage.

Graham confirms something we all know: software is a very competitive business, the company that makes the best software in the fastest way, takes over the market and leaves out all its competitors. The author reveals the key to avoid this situation: choose the right technology and focus on doing what others are not doing. Do something weird!

Graham and Morris, creators of ViaWeb, saw the great potential of LISP: speed, cost, and unique characteristics. Making use of a 'strange' language allowed them to dominate the market and their company began to grow. His technique was very smart and maybe a little risky, but in the end, it worked great. 
The author says that LISP is great and the most powerful programming language available. His idea is that when developing application software it is a big mistake not to use the most powerful language. Personally, I don't agree with this argument; it doesn't seem to be an error, the developer should choose the language he prefers, although it is true that we must be willing to try different languages and to think in different languages in order to be a better programmer.

The argument of Eric Raymond says that learning LISP will be a profound experience of lighting that will make you a better programmer, at the beginning of the reading I did not understand it, but with Graham's explanation about the different powers of programming languages, everything made sense. And it worked! Maybe I will not become a devoted LISP programmer but now I'm more interested in what this language has to offer.
 

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