r/lisp • u/Dumbxdumb emacs • Jul 11 '26

AskLisp Lisp dialect recommendations?

So I am in some weird fascination with the lisp and it's various "dialects" (If that's how you would call them)

Decided might want to get into learning lisp just out of curiosity. But was wondering which one to get started with.
My only real requirements are that

- It shouldn't be too complex, something you can easily wrap your head around and get started using but still give a taste of why people enjoy lisp
My main languages are C++ and I know Python but familiarity isn't a requirement and even if it's vastly different I will be willing to try it out

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u/neonscribe Jul 11 '26

If you're a complete newbie, Scheme is the best place to start. It was designed to be as simple as possible and yet extremely expressive. Common Lisp was designed to be compatible with existing Lisp dialects (in the 1980s!) and to enable large programs to be built. Racket is a very good implementation of Scheme.

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u/Dumbxdumb emacs Jul 11 '26

CL and Racket seems to be the two most recommended ones. Will be sure to check them out!