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Schemescape
log.schemescape.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2022
A personal programming blog on language choice, Common Lisp, small scripting languages, static site generators, and a Steam programming game.
What HN saysCommenters cite its series comparing many languages, including a favorable take on Nim, and a post on slow SBCL file performance on Windows.
17HN people shared it
6linked it in comments
15stories submitted
63story points
3 months agolast shared
2022people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1The smallest embeddable scripting language, part 12 people · 7 points · first shared 2025 · discussion on HN
- 2Farewell to a Netbook2 people · 3 points · first shared 2025 · 1 comments on HN
- 3Future-Proof Programming Languages2 people · 3 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 4A 450 KB static site generator based on Markdown and Lua2 people · 3 points · first shared 2025 · discussion on HN
- 5Python is the new Basic1 people · 31 points · first shared 2025 · 85 comments on HN
- 6It's 2023, so of course I'm learning Common Lisp1 people · 4 points · first shared 2023 · 1 comments on HN
- 7Optimizing for Text-Mode Browsers1 people · 3 points · first shared 2026 · discussion on HN
- 8My Hobby Is Bikeshedding?1 people · 2 points · first shared 2025 · discussion on HN
- 9Using the Xteink X4, a minimalist e-reader1 people · 2 points · first shared 2026 · discussion on HN
- 10Minimal IRC server from scratch in Python1 people · 2 points · first shared 2025 · discussion on HN
- 11Beating Myself at Chess1 people · 2 points · first shared 2025 · discussion on HN
- 12Finding a new web host for this blog1 people · 1 points · first shared 2026 · discussion on HN
- 13Index1 people · first shared 2025
- 14Interactive browser app without js 21 people · first shared 2023
- 15Sbcl file perf windows1 people · first shared 2026
What HN people wrote when they linked it
middayc · 2025-01-16
The author wrote a short comment about each language in the following blogposts:
https://log.schemescape.com/posts/100-languages/index.html
1vuio0pswjnm7 · 2025-01-13
https://log.schemescape.com/posts/programming-languages/future-proof-l…
"Future-proof programming languages, part 3
March 3, 2023
SDK size (measured on x86_64 Alpine Linux), as a proxy for simplicity
Just looking at SDK size, Rust is an outlier. Even compared to a similarly complex language like C++, the Rust SDK is absolutely huge.
Even after allowing for a build tool, custom linker, and standard library, the Rust SDK is disappointingly heavy.
The other languages show some interesting results: JavaScript and C# appear to be the most bloated, closely followed by SBCL (a Common Lisp implementation).
If I'm just looking for a simple and fast language, that would leave C, Go, and Zig.
C is almost certainly future-proof for another decade or two and the SDK is reasonably sized.
I don't like Python."
schemescape · 2023-07-06
https://log.schemescape.com/
Currently mostly about Common Lisp and releasing a programming game on Steam… and static site generators :)
archargelod · 2025-01-17
From one of blog posts [0]:
Nim Nim is the language that impressed me the most in this batch. Everything I thought would be a problem (significant whitespace, choose-your-own-function syntax, intermediate C compliation step) didn't bother me at all. The small sample of the standard library I played with was a little quirky, but Nim seems like excellent bang for your buck. Notes: - Release binary was only 120 KB (linked against libc)! - Thought I'd dislike the syntax, but it was fine - Really easy to get started, many things "just worked" (e.g. grabbing a slice of an array) - Didn't have to specify too many types, but still ran fast - Fast compilation - Didn't like the "hints" it spews out during compilation, even for nim r (build and run) - Why did all take an anonymous function, but foldl took just an expression (with a and b seemingly picked out of thin air) -- is foldl a macro? - Nim might be a good language for hobby projects because it's easy, fast, and produces small binaries - I wonder what the debugging experience is like -- if it's decent, I might be writing a lot more Nim in the future! This exactly my thoughts on Nim and why I use it almost exclusively for all my hobby projects.
0-https://log.schemescape.com/posts/programming-languages/100-languages-…
nemoniac · 2026-08-14
I hadn't heard of this issue with SBCL before so I went searching for it. I guess you're referring to this: https://log.schemescape.com/posts/lisp/sbcl-file-perf-windows.html That article points out that the issue arises only on Windows. Do you have any evidence of such an issue on Linux or other OS?
kristianp · 2026-01-05
A related article I read yesterday lamented that 1GB of RAM isn't enough to run a graphical browser anymore (1). Sure JavaScript runs fast now, but at the cost of the code size of the average website being unnecessarily large. This is because speedy js and speedy network connectivity allows for more code, more network requests. Another example of Wirth's law.
This was the case when I got a Rapberry Pi 4 with 1GB of RAM about late 2019. You could run one tab of Chrome, but any more and it would be killed.
(1) https://log.schemescape.com/posts/hardware/farewell-to-a-netbook.html