I just got a copy of Paul Graham's "ANSI Common Lisp" which has two key
benefits: 1) It is designed to be as brief as possible, without being
terse (the "before you write any code" section is just 21 pages); 2) it
explains clearly, succinctly, and painlessly, without any "academic
language disease."
It also has a 3 page, very clear "Why lisp?" argument, just in case you
have to explain yourself to the unwashed managers of the world why Lisp is
so much "better" than a REAL programming language like Turbo Objective C++
Pro version 3.
At just 400 pages, it's not long on explications of each and every
function in CL. But they're all in there, and there are also chapters on
every important Lisp programming concept (control, structure, data
structures (three chapters), speed, CLOS, etc), and a three chapters that
are extended examples.
I liken this book to Kernighan and Richie's famous "C" book. Short, sweet,
occasionally terse, but surprisingly complete and deep.
I intend to use it as often as possible, instead of Steele's CLtL, 2nd
edition, which seems sometimes to be a vast maze of twisty little
funcalls, all different. I also hope to get a basic lesson in "workaday
CLOS" without all the meta-bells and epistemo-whistles. (I just want to
make some objects, dammit.)
It's from Prentice-Hall and about $40, paperback. Copyright date is 1996.
>>>>> "Fred" == Fred Haineux <··@wetware.com> writes:
Fred> I just got a copy of Paul Graham's "ANSI Common Lisp" which has
Fred> two key benefits: 1) It is designed to be as brief as possible,
Fred> without being terse (the "before you write any code" section is
Fred> just 21 pages); 2) it explains clearly, succinctly, and
Fred> painlessly, without any "academic language disease."
If you like to take a deep look in what is possible in Lisp
(especially with regards to macros) get your hands on a copy of "On
Lisp" by the same author. It is a very good companion.
Fred> I intend to use it as often as possible, instead of Steele's
Fred> CLtL, 2nd edition, which seems sometimes to be a vast maze of
Fred> twisty little funcalls, all different.
Note that the two books address different things. I still refer a lot
to CLtL2, although I prefer to use the web-edition over carrying five kilos
around (browse-cltl2 is a very handy utility for your Emacs BTW).
Holger
--
*** Holger Schauer :-
mail_address(·······@infko.uni-koblenz.de),
www(http://www.uni-koblenz.de/~schauer).
(-: I think sex is better than logic but I can't prove it. :-)