# The role of femtolisp in Julia?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/the-role-of-femtolisp-in-julia/1902>\
**Category:** Internals & Design\
**Tags:** question, history\
**Created:** [February 4, 2017, 12:46pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/the-role-of-femtolisp-in-julia/1902 "2017-02-04T12:46:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 31

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**Author:** ![Palli](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/palli/32/3380_2.png) [@Palli](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Palli)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 9:51pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/the-role-of-femtolisp-in-julia/1902/31 "2022-06-27T21:51:41Z")

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> [@dennis-t-peasant](#):
>
> document FemtoLisp’s role in the compiler more formally

It’s as far as I know only used in the Julia parser (and easteregg `julia --lisp` not even documented with --help-hidden). I don’t think it’s going away in the any time soon (since I read, it’s not "speed-critical), but it’s been discussed getting rid of FemtoLisp, there’s already a parser for Julia written in Julia-only code, but I’m not sure it’s always in sync, since Unicode symbols occupationally get added to the parser.

> [@Parsing Julia code](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parsing-julia-code/61599/2):
>
> Use Base.Meta.parse(str)

And a different parser (currently done in C mostly I believe):

> **[GitHub - JuliaData/Parsers.jl: fast parsing machinery for basic types in Julia](https://github.com/JuliaData/Parsers.jl)**
>
> fast parsing machinery for basic types in Julia. Contribute to JuliaData/Parsers.jl development by creating an account on GitHub.

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