{"slug": "sly", "name": "Sly", "category": "editors", "category_name": "Editors and IDEs", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 3, "warners": 0, "score": 2.627, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2026-02-25", "latest": "2026-04-26", "why": "you can't build up your environment incrementally the way you can with Common Lisp/Sly.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "you can't build up your environment incrementally the way you can with Common Lisp/Sly.", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://github.com/joaotavora/sly", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Sly"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 766542467, "item_id": 47908904, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47908904", "by": "metaketra", "date": "2026-04-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "installing SBCL and Sly was super easy", "excerpt": "I don't think Emacs is that hard to get used to, as long as you don't expect to replicate your IDE experience right away. Like if you use Jetbrains products, expect to switch to Emacs and get the same approach right away you will just have a very very bad time. I started using Emacs recently for Orgmode as an alternative to Obsidian, first I just thought I'd try using for about a month, and if I don't like it I'd qui", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mine, an IDE for Coalton and Common Lisp"}, {"id": 765184193, "item_id": 47824012, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47824012", "by": "anthk", "date": "2026-04-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can use Sly wth SBCL", "excerpt": "Eh, no. You have Elisp+cl-lib but SBCL too, and you can use Sly wth SBCL. Of Lem with SBCL+Quicklisp: https://lem-project.github.io/usage/common_lisp/ Huge tip: if you use MCCLIM, install Ultralisp first and (ql-quickload 'mcclim) later: it will give you a big speed boost. Big, not as the ones from Phoronix. Actually big. 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From 'I can almost see redrawing on a really old ass netbook' to 'snappy as TCL/Tk' under SBCL. ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The seven programming ur-languages"}, {"id": 754479600, "item_id": 47154975, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47154975", "by": "coffeemug", "date": "2026-02-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can't build up your environment incrementally the way you can with Common Lisp/Sly.", "excerpt": "I've been using Racket to work through The Little Learner[1] and it's been a good experience. You need minimal Racket to work through the book (lambda, let, define, map; I think that's about it). But I branched out to learn more about the language and the standard library, and it's a fun and surprisingly powerful system to explore. The biggest downside of Racket is that you can't build up your environment incremental", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Racket v9.1"}]}