Lispderived

Lispderived is a term used in computer science to describe programming languages that descend from the Lisp family. The classification is informal and used by researchers, educators, and practitioners to group languages that share core Lisp traits, such as macro systems, S-expression syntax, and a heritage of metaprogramming.

Origins and scope: The Lisp language was developed in the late 1950s, and its descendants have evolved into a wide range of dialects and dialect families. Lispderived languages include Scheme, Common Lisp, Emacs Lisp, Clojure, and Racket, among others. While they all trace their ancestry to Lisp, they differ in philosophy, tooling, type systems, and emphasis on simplicity versus practicality.

Core characteristics: Lispderived languages typically use S-expressions for both code and data, a feature that enables powerful macro systems and code-as-data manipulation. They often emphasize first-class functions, dynamic or optionally typed semantics, and garbage collection. Macros and hygienic macro systems are common, enabling sophisticated metaprogramming and language extension without sacrificing runtime performance.

Variations and emphasis: Scheme tends toward minimalism and lexical scoping, Common Lisp emphasizes multi-paradigm programming and a large standard library, Clojure focuses on modern platforms (JVM/JavaScript) and immutability, while Racket expands the ecosystem around education and experimentation. Despite shared ancestry, each language adapts Lisp-derived ideas to different goals and communities.

Impact: Lispderived languages have influenced language design, metaprogramming, and education. They remain relevant in areas such as symbolic computation, rapid prototyping, and DSL development. See also Lisp, Scheme, Common Lisp, Clojure, Racket, and Macro (computer science).