I am a newcomer to the Lisp language. What I have seen so far is very
stimulating and encouraging. I have learned enough to know beyond doubt that
I want to learn more.
At the moment I am using Clisp on Linux and I'm quite happy with it. It will
be a long time before I'm more than a beginner, so I believe Clisp should be
adequate to the task - but I invite comments, pro and con, from seasoned
Lisp programmers.
My intended usage in the short term is just learning. I want to get a feel
for what Lisp can do and what I can do with it. So far I'm stunned by the
discovery of so many advanced ideas in such an old language. There seems to
be little correlation between time and progress. But what's new?
Any comments, book suggestions, tool suggestions etc would be most welcome.
I'd also be curious to hear how people are using Lisp in the workaday world.
What kind of problems are you trying to solve, how does Lisp help, what made
you choose Lisp, what do you find are the advantages, are there any
frustrations specific to Lisp, is there enough "hacktivation energy" in the
Lisp community to keep it thriving, or anything else you think a beginner
might be interested to know in advance).
>>>>> "Pieter" == Pieter van der Westhuizen <········@my-deja.com> writes:
Pieter> Any comments, book suggestions, tool suggestions etc would
Pieter> be most welcome.
Hey Pieter, I'm a newbie too.
I have several good Lisp books on my shelf. Some of them may not be
appropriate for your purposes as I look at Lisp with a view towards
implementing it.
A good reference, other than the Common Lisp HyperSpec, is _ANSI
Common Lisp_, by Paul Graham. I also have _On Lisp_, also by Graham,
but I haven't read it yet.
Sonya Keene's _Object-oriented Programming in Common Lisp_ is supposed
to be the classic introduction to the Common Lisp Object System. I
own it, but I haven't read it yet, either.
Other books that may be interesting:
- _Essentials of Programming Languages_ by Friedman et al
- _Lisp in Small Pieces_ by Queinnec
- _Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming_ by Norvig
- _The Art of the Meta-Object Protocol_ by Kizcales(sp?) et al
You'll find more references on the ALU web page, see
http://www.lisp.org/.
Pieter> I'd also be curious to hear how people are using Lisp in
Pieter> the workaday world.
I'm trying to write a compiler in Lisp. Needless to say, this
exercise has only underscored my unfamiliarity with large-scale
programming. I've gotten nowhere. :( Part of my problem is in
designing the compiler (e.g. make it easily retargetted), but when it
comes right down to it, I don't think I'm a very good programmer. I
need more practice in the art before tackling something as big as a
tool chain.
--
THE SPICE GIRLS MUST FLOW.
>>>>> "XF" == Xenophon Fenderson the Carbon(d)ated <········@irtnog.org> writes:
XF> I'm trying to write a compiler in Lisp. Needless to say, this
XF> exercise has only underscored my unfamiliarity with large-scale
XF> programming. I've gotten nowhere. :( Part of my problem is in
XF> designing the compiler (e.g. make it easily retargetted), but when it
Why not help to improve the compiler for Clisp, or gcl, or CMUCL?
You'd probably learn a lot and might even help you get started on your
own compiler. (Of course, I rather see your time spent on improving
those compilers instead of creating yet another compiler, but I'm
rather selfish here. I want these to get better.)
Ray
If you're starting out, then...
> A good reference, other than the Common Lisp HyperSpec, is _ANSI
> Common Lisp_, by Paul Graham. I also have _On Lisp_, also by Graham,
> but I haven't read it yet.
"ANSI Common Lisp" is an excellent choice. The ANSI spec (eg in the form
of the Hyperspec) is good as a reference document but not as a place to
learn the language. Guy Steele's "Common Lisp The Language" SECOND
EDITION is intermediate (though closer to being a reference work than a
tutorial) but comes with the caveat that it's "not quite ANSI".
"On Lisp" is a style guide / cookbook for non-beginners. I actually
don't agree with some of the suggestions in it (this may be a matter of
taste - I don't have it with me at the moment so cannot justify that
statement until next week....)
> Sonya Keene's _Object-oriented Programming in Common Lisp_ is supposed
> to be the classic introduction to the Common Lisp Object System. I
> own it, but I haven't read it yet, either.
Sonya's book is excellent, and an easy read. You need to have met the
rest of the language first though.
Enjoy.
- nick