- First name: Dirk 
  
- Last name: Gerrits 
  
- Email address: REMOVED
  
- Home page: http://www.dirkgerrits.com/ (I intend to update it during 
  the summer to include my Lisp escapades.) 
  
- Phone number(s): +31 6 11215433 
  
- Postal code: 5571 EC 
  
- City: Bergeyk 
  
- Country: The Netherlands 
  
- Organization(s) you work for or study at 
  (please supply the name and city for each organization): 
  
  Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven (studying Computer 
  Science) 
  
- Fields of interest 
  (e.g. computer linguistics, numerical analysis, business software, 
  medicine, bioinformatics): 
  
  programming languages, computer games, (3D) graphics, physics 
  
- Have you written any Lisp-related papers? If so, please supply 
  bibliographical references (and URL's, if possible). 
  
  not yet 
  
- Have you developed or participated in the development of any 
  Lisp-related programs or libraries? If so, please supply a URL, 
  if possible. 
  
  not really (submitted a trivial patch to CL-SDL 
  (http://cl-sdl.sourceforge.net/) to include joystick support) 
  
- Lisp variants you have used (e.g. Common Lisp, Scheme, Dylan): 
  
  Scheme and Common Lisp, a tiny bit of Emacs Lisp, and I read some 
  articles on Dylan and EuLisp 
  
- Lisp variants you're currently using or intend to use in the 
  near future: 
  
  Common Lisp, and I am trying out Erlang (which has many Lisp-like 
  properties but is not considered a Lisp) 
  
- Lisp implementations you have used 
  (e.g. CMUCL, Lispworks, Allegro Common Lisp): 
  
  PLT Scheme, CMUCL, SBCL, Lispworks (evaluation version), Allegro 
  (evaluation version) 
  
- Lisp implementations you're currently using or intend to use 
  in the near future: 
  
  CMUCL, perhaps SBCL again some day 
  
- Computer platforms on which you're using or deploying Lisp: 
  
  GNU/Linux, Microsoft Windows 
  
- Number of years of experience with Lisp: 
  
  1 year (plus 6 months of Python experience, but that doesn't really 
  count, does it?) 
  
- Do you use Lisp: 
  - at work (if so, how much)   
  
  No 
  
  - for study (if so, how much)  
  
  No :( 
  
  - as a hobby (if so, how much)  
  
  Yes, but so far only for learning the language (ie not that much). 
  I intend to start working on actual personal Lisp projects in the 
  summer vacation. 
  
- Are you using Lisp as much as you would like to? 
  If not, why not? 
  
  No.  My university forces me to use languages inferior to Lisp, and 
  bad time management has prevented me from using it much in my spare 
  time.  I intend to fix the latter, but I'm not so sure I can do 
  anything about the former. 
  
- Do you see any obstacles to further Lisp growth (if so, what 
  is the biggest obstacle in your opinion)? 
  
  In the sense of gaining more users: prejudice.  The mention of Lisp to 
  non-Lispers is greeted with a reiteration of 30 year old myths and 
  ignorance. 
  
  In the sense of getting more fun and useful things done with Lisp: I 
  feel we need a better way to access libraries.  Something more 
  automatic than UFFI, a C++ analog to UFFI, and a central repository of 
  available libraries would all be nice. 
  
- Would you be interested in a Lisp-related job or contract work? 
  
  A job yes, but I wouldn't drop out of college for it.  A part-time job 
  and/or telecommuting would be ideal.  Otherwise it'll have to wait a 
  few years. 
  
- Is your organization interested in hiring Lisp programmers? 
  
  Probably not. 
  
- Are you currently participating in Lisp-related meetings? 
  If so, where and how often? 
  If not, would you be interested in such meetings? 
  
  Yes, I *try* to intend all Amsterdam and Cologne Lisp meetings. That 
  should be about one meeting a month, though the frequency has not 
  really been pinned down.