There were two main motivations: simplifying the code and the features, and writing the software in a programming language that I enjoy programming with.
The process of the rewrite was roughly like this: simplifying HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code first, then switching from MathJax v2 to MathJax v3, then making corresponding changes in the JavaScript code, then replacing the custom Markdown + LaTeX demultiplexing logic with TeXMe that is specifically designed to solve this problem, and finally rewriting the server-side functionality in Common Lisp. The last activity had roughly six phases of development: writing some of the utility functions I would need later (e.g., parsing posts, storing/retrieving posts, etc.), writing tests, presenting the home page, processing the post submission, presenting post pages, and performing post validations.
susam|3 years ago
The process of the rewrite was roughly like this: simplifying HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code first, then switching from MathJax v2 to MathJax v3, then making corresponding changes in the JavaScript code, then replacing the custom Markdown + LaTeX demultiplexing logic with TeXMe that is specifically designed to solve this problem, and finally rewriting the server-side functionality in Common Lisp. The last activity had roughly six phases of development: writing some of the utility functions I would need later (e.g., parsing posts, storing/retrieving posts, etc.), writing tests, presenting the home page, processing the post submission, presenting post pages, and performing post validations.