Is LISP still useful in, and which version is most used in todays world ?

Posted by shan23 on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by shan23
Published on 2011-03-06T14:03:13Z Indexed on 2011/03/06 16:17 UTC
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programming-languages

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self-improvement

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lisp

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Scheme

I try to teach myself a new programming language in regular intervals of time. Recently, I've read how Lisp and its dialects are at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from languages like C/C++, which made me curious enough to know more about it. However, two things are unclear to me, and I'm looking for guidance on them :

Is LISP still practiced/used in todays world, or is it a legacy language like FORTRAN/COBOL ? I mean, apart from maintaining existing code, is it used on new projects at all ?
What is the most widely used dialect ? I came across Scheme and Common Lisp as the 2 most prevalent dialects, and wanted your opinion as to which is the most favored/useful one to learn - and would be immensely gratified if you can suggest any resources for a rank beginner to start from.

While eager to learn a language which is fundamentally different from the procedural languages I'm used to, I don't want to invest undue effort in something if its totally obsolete - I'd still learn it if it was professionally "dead", but only with an academic perspective...

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