Wisp (Lisp syntax)
Hacker ApprovedLisp syntax in Developer tools
Free indentation-based Lisp syntax people use for practical tools and experiments. Critics find it harder to read than Scheme and worry about ecosystem compatibility.
Free indentation-based Lisp syntax people use for practical tools and experiments. Critics find it harder to read than Scheme and worry about ecosystem compatibility.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 91%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 10 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fits users' own use cases
“I was looking for something like it so I could use it to quickly test the web builds of my tauri mobile app.”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Never Buy A .online Domain” “The product looks super cool! I can immediately think of my use case”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “Never Buy A .online Domain” Seen as a cool example
“The product looks super cool! I can immediately think of my use case”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “Never Buy A .online Domain” “I think this is a pretty cool example”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “OpenClaw, OpenAI and the Future” Used to build practical tools
“If it is such a problem you can use wisp to write your packages.”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Why I love NixOS” “I made a little tool for Ralphing on Sprites”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Running Claude Code dangerously (safely)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hard to read and write
“I just never quite manage to grasp the new syntax.”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “LispE: Lisp Interpreter with Pattern Programming and Lazy Evaluation” “I actually find wisp harder to read/write than just plain Scheme.”
Comment from 22 Jun 2026 in “(How to Write a (Lisp) Interpreter (In Python))” Concern about ecosystem compatibility
“I think the main one is ecosystem compatibility , bash has millions of scripts.”
Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “Show HN: Wisp – a Linux shell with Lua scripting and structured pipelines”
What people said
9 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I think the main one is ecosystem compatibility , bash has millions of scripts.”
“I actually find wisp harder to read/write than just plain Scheme.”
“If it is such a problem you can use wisp to write your packages.”
“The product looks super cool! I can immediately think of my use case”
“I was looking for something like it so I could use it to quickly test the web builds of my tauri mobile app.”
“I think this is a pretty cool example”
“It's been a great way to dig into more advanced concepts like reflection and HTTP internals”
“I just never quite manage to grasp the new syntax.”
“I made a little tool for Ralphing on Sprites”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.