From: John Connors
Subject: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <43dffa3d$0$82655$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader03.plus.net>
I'm looking for a book (or articles) that will help me understand the techniques used in a modern (cf SBCL/CMUCL) lisp compiler. I'm 
fairly au fait with conventional compiler construction techniques, but all the textbooks I can find are heavy on syntatic analysis
and grammar, and only one deigns to mention closures. Which is a bit pointless for Lisp. I'm more interested in low level issues 
like linking - or whatever the lisp equivalent is, symbol table and freestore management and garbage collection...

I'm thinking I need Quiennec (sp) and Lisp In Small Pieces..am I on the right track?

John Connors.

From: Pascal Bourguignon
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <87oe1rsyz8.fsf@thalassa.informatimago.com>
John Connors <·····@yagc.ndo.co.uk> writes:

> I'm looking for a book (or articles) that will help me understand the
> techniques used in a modern (cf SBCL/CMUCL) lisp compiler. I'm fairly
> au fait with conventional compiler construction techniques, but all
> the textbooks I can find are heavy on syntatic analysis
> and grammar, and only one deigns to mention closures. Which is a bit
> pointless for Lisp. I'm more interested in low level issues like
> linking - or whatever the lisp equivalent is, symbol table and
> freestore management and garbage collection...
>
> I'm thinking I need Quiennec (sp) and Lisp In Small Pieces..am I on the right track?

While not lisp specific (the compiler described is written in ML and
compiles ML), the book: "Compiling with continuations" is the closest,
of the half a dozen books about compilation I have, to what you want.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521416957/qid=1138753613/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-4177850-1153735?n=507846&s=books&v=glance


-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/

NEW GRAND UNIFIED THEORY DISCLAIMER: The manufacturer may
technically be entitled to claim that this product is
ten-dimensional. However, the consumer is reminded that this
confers no legal rights above and beyond those applicable to
three-dimensional objects, since the seven new dimensions are
"rolled up" into such a small "area" that they cannot be
detected.
From: Thomas F. Burdick
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <xcvhd7jwehp.fsf@conquest.OCF.Berkeley.EDU>
Pascal Bourguignon <······@informatimago.com> writes:

> John Connors <·····@yagc.ndo.co.uk> writes:
> 
> > I'm looking for a book (or articles) that will help me understand the
> > techniques used in a modern (cf SBCL/CMUCL) lisp compiler. I'm fairly
> > au fait with conventional compiler construction techniques, but all
> > the textbooks I can find are heavy on syntatic analysis
> > and grammar, and only one deigns to mention closures. Which is a bit
> > pointless for Lisp. I'm more interested in low level issues like
> > linking - or whatever the lisp equivalent is, symbol table and
> > freestore management and garbage collection...
> >
> > I'm thinking I need Quiennec (sp) and Lisp In Small Pieces..am I on the right track?
> 
> While not lisp specific (the compiler described is written in ML and
> compiles ML), the book: "Compiling with continuations" is the closest,
> of the half a dozen books about compilation I have, to what you want.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521416957/qid=1138753613/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-4177850-1153735?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

Really, any book that focuses on languages with actual features
(instead of just syntax) is good.  Also, be sure to check out the
documents on Python itself (you can find them on the cmucl page and
some discussion on the sbcl-internals wiki).

-- 
           /|_     .-----------------------.                        
         ,'  .\  / | Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! |
     ,--'    _,'   | Abolish the racist    |
    /       /      | death penalty!        |
   (   -.  |       `-----------------------'
   |     ) |                               
  (`-.  '--.)                              
   `. )----'                               
From: Hrvoje Blazevic
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <drq4vt$bu3$1@ss405.t-com.hr>
Pascal Bourguignon wrote:
> 
> While not lisp specific (the compiler described is written in ML and
> compiles ML), the book: "Compiling with continuations" is the closest,
> of the half a dozen books about compilation I have, to what you want.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521416957/qid=1138753613/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-4177850-1153735?n=507846&s=books&v=glance
> 
> 

Unfortunately, this book is very difficult (impossible?) to get. I've 
ordered it from Amazon some 9 months ago, and am still waiting...

On the other hand, LiSP book (although mostly Scheme specific) does deal 
with Lisp2 as well.

-- Hrvoje
From: JohnFredCee
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <1138808244.362243.149280@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>
Hrvoje Blazevic wrote:
> Pascal Bourguignon wrote:
> >
> > While not lisp specific (the compiler described is written in ML and
> > compiles ML), the book: "Compiling with continuations" is the closest,
> > of the half a dozen books about compilation I have, to what you want.
> >
> > http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521416957/qid=1138753613/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-4177850-1153735?n=507846&s=books&v=glance
> >
> >
>
> Unfortunately, this book is very difficult (impossible?) to get. I've
> ordered it from Amazon some 9 months ago, and am still waiting...
>
> On the other hand, LiSP book (although mostly Scheme specific) does deal
> with Lisp2 as well.
>
> -- Hrvoje

Not a problem over here - the advantage of being a postgraduate
student: being able to source any book for a loan for free .. if only
for two weeks.

Taking a part time postgraduate course works out cheaper than buying
the books, and you get a free education, thown in :-)

John Connors.
From: Ulrich Hobelmann
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <44bn87F1c0ctU1@individual.net>
Hrvoje Blazevic wrote:
> Unfortunately, this book is very difficult (impossible?) to get. I've 
> ordered it from Amazon some 9 months ago, and am still waiting...

Yep.  And German Amazon lists it as high as �120.  Not sure if the 
American one would deliver to Europe, but my reading list is long enough 
anyway...

-- 
Suffering from Gates-induced brain leakage...
From: Hrvoje Blazevic
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <drqaoc$pmq$1@ss405.t-com.hr>
Ulrich Hobelmann wrote:
> Hrvoje Blazevic wrote:
> 
>> Unfortunately, this book is very difficult (impossible?) to get. I've 
>> ordered it from Amazon some 9 months ago, and am still waiting...
> 
> 
> Yep.  And German Amazon lists it as high as �120.  Not sure if the 
> American one would deliver to Europe, but my reading list is long enough 
> anyway...
> 

I never bother with European Amazons. The price for this book is 60 $ 
and I will pay for it some 68 $ when I (eventually :-) get it. Amazon US 
ships (and have done so from the beginning) to Croatia without any 
problems. Shipping (via US parcel mail) takes 8-10 days, although Amazon 
estimates much longer.

Go figure where the difference in price comes from?

-- Hrvoje
From: Edi Weitz
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <ur76n9qkq.fsf@agharta.de>
On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:52:44 +0100, Hrvoje Blazevic <······@despammed.com> wrote:

> I never bother with European Amazons. The price for this book is 60
> $ and I will pay for it some 68 $ when I (eventually :-) get
> it. Amazon US ships (and have done so from the beginning) to Croatia
> without any problems. Shipping (via US parcel mail) takes 8-10 days,
> although Amazon estimates much longer.
>
> Go figure where the difference in price comes from?

I don't know about Croatia but in Germany you usually have to pay
customs duty when you get books or CDs from the US.  Sometimes you're
lucky and they don't check your package but pretty often they do.  It
doesn't explain the difference in price above but it isn't negligible
either.  I just paid EUR 14 for three CDs worth US$ 15 each.  That's
more than 35%...

-- 

Lisp is not dead, it just smells funny.

Real email: (replace (subseq ·········@agharta.de" 5) "edi")
From: Hrvoje Blazevic
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <drqmgl$pqg$1@ss405.t-com.hr>
Edi Weitz wrote:
> On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:52:44 +0100, Hrvoje Blazevic <······@despammed.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>>I never bother with European Amazons. The price for this book is 60
>>$ and I will pay for it some 68 $ when I (eventually :-) get
>>it. Amazon US ships (and have done so from the beginning) to Croatia
>>without any problems. Shipping (via US parcel mail) takes 8-10 days,
>>although Amazon estimates much longer.
>>
>>Go figure where the difference in price comes from?
> 
> 
> I don't know about Croatia but in Germany you usually have to pay
> customs duty when you get books or CDs from the US.  Sometimes you're
> lucky and they don't check your package but pretty often they do.  It
> doesn't explain the difference in price above but it isn't negligible
> either.  I just paid EUR 14 for three CDs worth US$ 15 each.  That's
> more than 35%...
> 

Two different things. Before ADSL I had to order Linux CDs from US, and 
sometimes (when customs checked), I had to pay duty which amounted to 
doubling the price. Not because of duty, but because it involves 
handling/administrative expenses. Books, however, are a different story. 
Books are not subject to import duty in Croatia, and probably not in 
Germany either, on account of most of our regulations being German copy :-)

-- Hrvoje
From: Ulrich Hobelmann
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <44calgF1c6g6U1@individual.net>
Hrvoje Blazevic wrote:
> Two different things. Before ADSL I had to order Linux CDs from US, and 
> sometimes (when customs checked), I had to pay duty which amounted to 
> doubling the price. Not because of duty, but because it involves 
> handling/administrative expenses. Books, however, are a different story. 

Wow.  Now THAT's roadside robbery.  It's bad enough that they check your 
stuff and make you pay for stuff they consider "worth paying extra for", 
or arrest you when you import stuff like alcohol, cigarettes, or 
marijuana.  But paying even if they don't find stuff, for a "service" 
you never asked for?  *disgusted*

> Books are not subject to import duty in Croatia, and probably not in 
> Germany either, on account of most of our regulations being German copy :-)

I think in Germany basically you have to pay for importing *anything*, 
some percentage (10?).

-- 
Suffering from Gates-induced brain leakage...
From: Hrvoje Blazevic
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <drr00h$h0k$1@ss405.t-com.hr>
Ulrich Hobelmann wrote:
> Hrvoje Blazevic wrote:
> 
>> Two different things. Before ADSL I had to order Linux CDs from US, 
>> and sometimes (when customs checked), I had to pay duty which amounted 
>> to doubling the price. Not because of duty, but because it involves 
>> handling/administrative expenses. Books, however, are a different story. 
> 
> 
> Wow.  Now THAT's roadside robbery.  It's bad enough that they check your 
> stuff and make you pay for stuff they consider "worth paying extra for", 
> or arrest you when you import stuff like alcohol, cigarettes, or 
> marijuana.  But paying even if they don't find stuff, for a "service" 
> you never asked for?  *disgusted*
> 

Hmm...

Not as bad as that. When they decide to impose duty, than *this* incures 
fixed handling costs. But as we are talking here about something that, 
to start with, costs 10$, duty + handling amounts to 100%. With 
something more pricey, handling would be negligible.

-- Hrvoje
From: Pascal Bourguignon
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <87hd7ig7um.fsf@thalassa.informatimago.com>
Ulrich Hobelmann <···········@web.de> writes:

> Hrvoje Blazevic wrote:
>> Two different things. Before ADSL I had to order Linux CDs from US,
>> and sometimes (when customs checked), I had to pay duty which
>> amounted to doubling the price. Not because of duty, but because it
>> involves handling/administrative expenses. Books, however, are a
>> different story. 
>
> Wow.  Now THAT's roadside robbery.  It's bad enough that they check
> your stuff and make you pay for stuff they consider "worth paying
> extra for", or arrest you when you import stuff like alcohol,
> cigarettes, or marijuana.  But paying even if they don't find stuff,
> for a "service" you never asked for?  *disgusted*

Standard State for you (you're paying taxes aren't you?).
Next stop at: http://www.mises.org/

-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/

HANDLE WITH EXTREME CARE: This product contains minute electrically
charged particles moving at velocities in excess of five hundred
million miles per hour.
From: Ulrich Hobelmann
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <44e19aF1mlhrU3@individual.net>
Pascal Bourguignon wrote:
> Standard State for you (you're paying taxes aren't you?).
> Next stop at: http://www.mises.org/

I'm reading that sometimes.  But let's not start the political thing 
here again ;)

I'm not paying many taxes right now, but everybody I buy from, does (VAT).

-- 
Suffering from Gates-induced brain leakage...
From: Panos C. Lekkas
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <ehdEf.75$rd6.73@fe06.lga>
"Edi Weitz" <········@agharta.de> wrote in message 
··················@agharta.de...
> On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:52:44 +0100, Hrvoje Blazevic <······@despammed.com> 
> wrote:

>> Go figure where the difference in price comes from?
>
> I don't know about Croatia but in Germany you usually have to pay
> customs duty when you get books or CDs from the US.  Sometimes you're
> lucky and they don't check your package but pretty often they do.  It
> doesn't explain the difference in price above but it isn't negligible
> either.  I just paid EUR 14 for three CDs worth US$ 15 each.  That's
> more than 35%...
>

Ouch! But how else could they fund the .... welfare state?

Not to mention the vast ......value they bring to society by providing 
....highly productive fulltime jobs to the armies of pencil pushers that 
staff the VAT administration services, which account for all this revenue 
that they milk from you  :-)

It is amazing people haven't revolted there yet!

:-)

Panos C. Lekkas 
From: Rob Warnock
Subject: Re: Book reccomendations needed
Date: 
Message-ID: <jLCdnVcMwJu5Hn3enZ2dnUVZ_smdnZ2d@speakeasy.net>
John Connors  <·····@yagc.ndo.co.uk> wrote:
+---------------
| I'm looking for a book (or articles) that will help me understand the
| techniques used in a modern (cf SBCL/CMUCL) lisp compiler. ...
| I'm more interested in low level issues like linking - or whatever
| the lisp equivalent is, symbol table and
| freestore management and garbage collection...
+---------------

You might want to look at "Design of CMU Common Lisp", edited
by Robert A. MacLachlan (2003), which can be found in the
CMUCL distribution, or here:

    http://common-lisp.net/project/cmucl/doc/CMUCL-design.pdf

While incomplete in many places [despite its 122 pages], if you're
generally familiar with compiler design you may find it interesting.
It does at least cover all of the major phases of the compiler, and
discusses a number of the optimizations used. You will probably need
a copy of the CMUCL sources at hand to make much sense of it, though.
[The CMUCL compiler is written extirely in CMUCL, except for a *very*
small amount of C & assembler.]


-Rob

-----
Rob Warnock			<····@rpw3.org>
627 26th Avenue			<URL:http://rpw3.org/>
San Mateo, CA 94403		(650)572-2607