After long discussions with myself, I decided to abandon #CommonLisp for the implementation of my business web backend projects for the time being.
Although it is fun to deal with this language, my productivity has dropped to practically zero. I spent 80% of my time fixing existing libraries that have dependencies to other unfinished libraries etc., after sometimes hours of code searches, mental recursive macro expansions and getting discouraged about non-existing documentation. Not to mention the time it takes to constantly and repetitively look up every single function in HyperSpec and trying to remember them. How many hours have I lost myself in strange universes like LOOP, Macros or Conditions only to look at the clock and realize: “the day is already over, although I haven’t achieved anything today”.
For my specific use case, the few advantages of Common Lisp do not outweigh the many understandable disadvantages. I consider however the time I spent was well invested.
Finally, I have to say that the Common Lisp community, as small and crazy as it may be, is made up of highly talented and friendly people who are eager to give newcomers advice whenever they need it on the long and rocky road ahead. Unfortunately, my circumstances, my patience, and my generally poorly functioning memory have not allowed me to produce enough enthusiasm to get to a point where I would have achieved real results and felt to make any progress.
On to the next adventure! 🚀