Can we have a unusually nice debate? "JVM Lisp Duel – Clojure vs. ABCL" 

June 2017 

If you are interested in writing Lisp applications for the Java Virtual Machine, then this thread is for you, here are discussed some relevant pros and cons of each of this two Lisp  implementations.

Some excerpts:

"SoraFirestormλ 7 points 3 days ago 

I've only ever done a little bit of Clojure, and have not used ABCL, same as you, but I can already see something in ABCL's favor.

It's a Common Lisp implementation, so porting existing CL is easier, and you also have access to the wider body of libraries for CL. For an existing codebase, I'd definitely pick ABCL.

I don't know enough Clojure to argue for or against, but it must have its uses and strengths, otherwise no one would be using it."

"–]maufdez 1 point 2 days ago 

I read all the posts in here (up to yesterday night), a lot of the persons replying say I prefer, I like, and some list pros and cons of each approach Common Lisp or Clojure. I think the first post tried to put ABCL against Clojure because both are implemented on the JVM, but a lot of the debate is on the differences between CL and Clojure, which makes sense. I remove from the equation things like "Modern" which is a way of saying the other option feels "Antiquated", an other things that are opinions (I'm even trying to leave my opinions out of it) the thing at the end is a matter of taste. If you understand what are the pros and cons of each philosophy and what is your personal style and what you value the most on your programming language, then, any of the two choices is good. I think it should be said that ABCL is not the only way to have CL interact with the JVM, things like CL+J and Foil which were created for that, I have not used them but if they work it means that you can interact with the Java ecosystem from other CLs too."

So, go ahead and read this reddit thread.

And even better, participate in it.

Have fun!