Lisp is still relevant for several reasons:
- Lisp is a powerful and expressive programming language that is well suited for a wide range of tasks, from small scripts to large, complex systems. It is particularly well suited for tasks that involve manipulating symbolic data, such as artificial intelligence and natural language processing.
- Lisp has a unique and powerful macro system that allows programmers to write code that generates other code. This feature makes Lisp a popular choice for domain-specific languages and other code generation tasks.
- Lisp has been around for a long time and has a rich history and a dedicated community of users. This means that there are a lot of libraries, tools, and resources available for Lisp programmers, and that the language is well-documented and well-understood.
- Lisp is a homoiconic language, which means that its code and data have the same representation. This makes it easy to manipulate code as data, which allows for powerful metaprogramming and code generation capabilities.
- Lisp has a number of implementations, such as Common Lisp, Scheme, and Clojure, each with their own strengths. This diversity allows developers to choose the implementation that best suits their needs.
- Lisp has been used in many successful projects such as AutoCAD, Allegro Common Lisp, and many more.
- Lisp is being used in current cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science.
In summary, Lisp is still relevant because it is a powerful and expressive programming language with unique features such as a powerful macro system and homoiconicity, a rich history and community, a wide range of libraries, tools and resources, and is being used in current cutting-edge technologies.