This is from 2017, so I'm sure it must have been posted before (I couldn’t find it with search)? Nice article about REPLs using Clojure as an example https://vvvvalvalval.github.io/posts/what-makes-a-good-repl.html

We just talked a bit about clojure repls here https://futureofcoding.slack.com/archives/C5U3SEW6A/p1599496562080600

I independently had some related thoughts about REPLs. I'm using this opportunity to rant. Maybe this should go under that original thread on REPL's, or maybe it's own post, but I'll post it here to start. Apologies in advance 😛 . For some context, I am not a "lisp person." That's not to say I dislike lisp. I greatly admire lisp....from afar. But, my career and personal interests always end up taking me in a different direction, but I digress... My day job consists of optimized C++ and Python infrastructure used in the banking industry. It's very "traditional" in many ways. Recently, I "jury-rigged" a series of exploratory "REPL like" programs to test various subsystems. These "REPLs" can be infuriating to set up. No part of the environment is optimized for that kind of workflow. But I have found that once set up, I was able to be enormously more productive and confident in my code. Compared to any lisp REPL, or even a python REPL, these programs are stone age primitive. Still, this made me want to explore expanding it to more parts of the system, but further I looked, the more difficult it is to setup. I have to make a cost/benefit trade-off against "getting real work done," and unfortunately, I often have to choose to stick with the status quo. Before I shifted into lower level systems programming, I spent years doing to Javascript and PHP. I burned out on web programming, but this experience made me realize that one thing I miss is the exploratory coding and rapid feedback experience. And that leads me to the crux of my lament. Why can't I have a systems level programming environment that allows for this kind of rapid feedback? Obviously there are limits the closer you get to the hardware, but even then, Forth has been used in embedded for decades (with a REPL), and people have put a Python REPL on an ESP8266, so I know it's possible to go fairly far with this idea... Again, I am not a lisp evangelical, In fact, I generally prefer static types and fine grained control over my memory management. I'm also not saying REPLs are a panacea. I'm a practical person. It's frustrating for me to see the potential for a particular tool, and yet, to be unable to use it. /rant