[erlisp-devel] Erlisp and uptick

[Dirk Gerrits]

Eric Lavigne wrote:
>> [...] make me wonder if people actually read the Erlisp
>> roadmap. Is it too fluffy? Not clear enough? Too long? Not
>> structured properly?  I'm willing to rewrite it if that can prevent
>> things like these...
> 
> 
> Your interest in speed is very clear (and very emphasized) in your
> roadmap, but only at the end. If I read the first two pages, I would
> get the impression that you didn't even notice that Erlang has fast
> threading (and that you had already implemented processes as threads).
> Then at the end I would see a long discussion of how to make Erlisp
> fast, including such extreme measures as hacking the CLisp backend or
> submitting CLRFIs. If all I cared about was speed, I might be inclined
> to stop reading after the first or second page and not see the third.

Very good point...

> Possible ways to change this:
> Add a goals section at the top, maybe only 10 lines long but listing
> what you expect from ErLisp when it is completed.

Okay so a juicier intro.  Good idea.  And I'm thinking of folding the 
overview and roadmap into one page.

> Add speed related items to the list of Erlang features, such as green
> threads or send-and-pray networking.

Well this is already mentioned under 'Parallel programming'.  I suppose 
I could split them off into separate features, but I'll have to locate 
my marketing hat. ;)

> This is not the first time that Joel has started developing something
> in Lisp, expressed his desire to continue working in Lisp, but left to
> Erlang for its networking/threading features. If he could be persuaded
> to make some small contribution to ErLisp, I suspect he would remain a
> regular contributor for years to come. The obvious candidate would be
> light-weight threading, but that sounds rather difficult. Do we have
> any quick and easy tasks that might interest him?

I do not think there /are/ any quick and easy tasks, but perhaps he can 
join the technical discussions on this mailing list.  That would be most 
welcome as I am myself just an Erlang newbie.

- Dirk