Hi
I'm reading a CS text about LISP and I'm using GNU CLISP to write and
test programs. However the syntax of the LISP used in the book does
not completely agree with CLISP.
The book: (plus 2 3)
The CLISP: (+ 2 3)
I also don't know what are the pre-built functions available in CLISP.
Where can I find a manual or API reference for GNU CLISP? Maybe
something like Java APIs.
Thanks in advance,
Behrang S.
Behrang Saeedzadeh wrote:
> I'm reading a CS text about LISP and I'm using GNU CLISP to write and
> test programs. However the syntax of the LISP used in the book does
> not completely agree with CLISP.
It would be interesting to know the name of the book.
How old is it?
> The book: (plus 2 3)
> The CLISP: (+ 2 3)
>
> I also don't know what are the pre-built functions available in CLISP.
> Where can I find a manual or API reference for GNU CLISP? Maybe
> something like Java APIs.
Do you know the Hyperspec?
<http://www.lispworks.com/reference/HyperSpec/Front/Hilights.htm>
--
Jens Axel S�gaard
Jens Axel S�gaard <······@jasoegaard.dk> wrote in message news:<·······················@dread12.news.tele.dk>...
> Behrang Saeedzadeh wrote:
>
> > I'm reading a CS text about LISP and I'm using GNU CLISP to write and
> > test programs. However the syntax of the LISP used in the book does
> > not completely agree with CLISP.
>
> It would be interesting to know the name of the book.
> How old is it?
>
> > The book: (plus 2 3)
> > The CLISP: (+ 2 3)
Before the truth is revealed, I'm going to submit a guess that it's
Chaitlin, who likes to write in a hyper-excited manner about Lisp, but
invents his own screwy dialects of it.
:)
In article <····························@posting.google.com>,
···@ashi.footprints.net (Kaz Kylheku) wrote:
> Jens Axel S�gaard <······@jasoegaard.dk> wrote in message
> news:<·······················@dread12.news.tele.dk>...
> > Behrang Saeedzadeh wrote:
> >
> > > I'm reading a CS text about LISP and I'm using GNU CLISP to write and
> > > test programs. However the syntax of the LISP used in the book does
> > > not completely agree with CLISP.
> >
> > It would be interesting to know the name of the book.
> > How old is it?
> >
> > > The book: (plus 2 3)
> > > The CLISP: (+ 2 3)
>
> Before the truth is revealed, I'm going to submit a guess that it's
> Chaitlin, who likes to write in a hyper-excited manner about Lisp, but
> invents his own screwy dialects of it.
PLUS was the name of the generic addition function in Maclisp; the +
function was only for fixnums. So maybe it's just an old dialect, not
necessarily a "screwy" one.
--
Barry Margolin, ······@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***
Kaz Kylheku <···@ashi.footprints.net> wrote:
+---------------
| > > The book: (plus 2 3)
| > > The CLISP: (+ 2 3)
|
| Before the truth is revealed, I'm going to submit a guess that it's
| Chaitlin, who likes to write in a hyper-excited manner about Lisp, but
| invents his own screwy dialects of it.
+---------------
Actually, Chaitin's dialect is *much* screwier than that: The original
version was a mostly parenthesis-free Schemish syntax, with *only*
fixed-arity function [no &OPTIONAL/&KEY/&REST], and was painful for
a Lisp programmer to read:
define (fact N) if = N 0 1 * N (fact - N 1)
And all because it saves a few characters and thus slightly lowers a
noncritical constant in one of his proofs! *Feh!*
Later versions <URL:http://www.cs.umaine.edu/%7echaitin/unknowable/lisp.html>
are even *worse*, adding a mishmash of S-expr & M-expr [*not* the same as
McCarthy's M-exprs!] in the same code, with funny syntax to switch back &
forth [e.g., he steals double-quote for a single prefix character for
escape-to-M-expr]. All in all, he would have been *much* better off in the
long run to have simply used standard S-expr syntax everywhere.
Other than that, I confess I find his work quite fascinating... ;-} ;-}
-Rob
-----
Rob Warnock <····@rpw3.org>
627 26th Avenue <URL:http://rpw3.org/>
San Mateo, CA 94403 (650)572-2607
·········@yahoo.com (Behrang Saeedzadeh) writes:
> Hi
>
> I'm reading a CS text about LISP and I'm using GNU CLISP to write and
> test programs. However the syntax of the LISP used in the book does
> not completely agree with CLISP.
>
> The book: (plus 2 3)
> The CLISP: (+ 2 3)
This gives you a good exercice: how to write a layer over Common-Lisp
to have the language of your book running?
(defun plus (&rest args) (apply (function +) args))
or:
(setf (symbol-function 'plus) (symbol-function '+))
or:
(defmacro plus (&rest args) `(+ ,@args))
;; not so good if you want to do (apply (function plus) '(1 2 3))
or:
...
--
__Pascal_Bourguignon__ http://www.informatimago.com/
There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he doesn't
want merely because you think it would be good for him.--Robert Heinlein
http://www.theadvocates.org/