Thread · HN Continuity

Thanks for another great interview, veqq!

> What do those Lisp books lack?

> it doesn’t go very deeply into e.g. garbage collection and data representation.

> I like to blog about cool techniques that are undiscussed nowadays.

> For example implementing weak references and how to GC them efficiently.

I had the same complaints about the books! They're always so high level. Stuff like garbage collection is simply taken for granted. In a real lisp, it's a core part of the virtual machine.

The blog posts about the chicken garbage collector and data representation are excellent. I really want to read about how chicken's continuations are compiled, hope to see an article there about it someday.

I too have taken up blogging in order to fill those gaps.

> Other stuff I rarely see discussed is how to do FFI and cross-module optimizations

Yeah. Those subjects are deeply interesting but I've never been able to find much material about them.

Wingolog has a post about cross-module partial evaluation in guile.

<a href="https://www.wingolog.org/archives/2021/05/13/cross-module-inlining-in-guile" rel="nofollow">https://www.wingolog.org/archives/2021/05/13/cross-module-in...

The partial evaluator cannot penetrate foreign functions, which prevents optimizations. It's an argument against FFIs!

> The biggest positive I see right now is the push for digital sovereignty.

> I sincerely hope this will change how people deploy tech, maybe in a more mindful manner.

> But vested interests and inertia will be hard to overcome and really bum me out.

Always nice to find more people who care! If you find a way to avoid feeling bummed out, please share. Things only seem to get more difficult for us...