What is the best way to learn LISP?

Getting started with Common Lisp.

• Hello, I would like advice on getting starting using common lisp to write programs. Some (possible) relevant issues: I use Windows 2000 on a PC. I have some formal training in C++ and Visual Basic and have written some minor programs in them. As an architect I have also worked with Autolisp in Autocad and have written dozens of small Autolisp functions. The types of programs I am looking to write are ones in which I would be dealing with manipulating 2D and 3D spaces and the connections between them, perhaps in some kind of an artificial intelligence way, having the program generate alternative layouts based on different weighted factors. This is just a starting point I really just want to see what might be possible as I learn more about programming. Note: I do not have a working copy of common lisp and need help figuring out which version would be best to install. I do not have a very large budget to work with but I will purchase software if needed. Books bought on the subject (I have not yet received them): of Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation by Touretzky, David of Understanding Lisp by Gloess, Paul Y. How to Solve It in LISP by Hall, Patrick The Little LISPer : Trade Edition [Paperback] by Friedman, Daniel P... Common Lisp and Artificial Intelligence by Harrison, Patrick R. Artificial Intelligence Programming [Hardcover] by Charniak, Eugene; Riesbeck Writing GNU Emacs Extensions: Editor Customizations and Creations with Lisp Writing GNU Emacs Extensions: Editor Customizations and Creations with Lisp Final note: I am a complete amateur to programming and do not have any contacts with programmers in my work. Advice of any sort will be appreciated. Thanks Very Much Zac. Kane

• Answer:

  Hello Zkane, There are a number of good products for Common Lisp on Windows. For example: http://www.franz.com/ Allegro Common Lisp (by Franz, Inc.) is a full featured system. I used Franz on Vaxen years ago so this is a mature company. There is a free trial version available for evaluation. Pricing for the full version starts at $599. http://clisp.sourceforge.net/ CLISP Common Lisp is what I have on my Mac OS X system, but Windows binaries are available as well. It works well and fully implements ANSI Common Lisp (with a handful of exceptions - read the documentation for details). Free software. http://www.cormanlisp.com/ Corman Common Lisp (by Corman Technologies) is another full featured system. The pricing is less ($125) but you may be able to use it freely as well. There is a note indicating the license allows others to use it. http://www.gnu.org/software/gcl/gcl.html http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/novak/gclwin.html GNU Common Lisp (by Free Software Foundation) is described as not quite ANSI compliant, and used the C compiler to generate good code. It is pretty comprehensive - has been used to build several large systems including Maxima and ACL2. http://www.lispworks.com/products/ Lispworks (by Xanalys); I don't know much about this one (I've at least heard of the others) and the on line documentation is a sizeable download. The personal edition allows you to run for a limited period of time / limited space but sounds pretty full featured. The fee for a full system / support is $999. There are other systems available - for reference see http://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/commonlisp.shtml http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/Groups/AI/html/faqs/lang/lisp/part4/faq-doc-1.html or search for common lisp windows From what you described as your book list - I assume you have some familiarity with emacs. The lisp environment in emacs is pretty good - not quite as flashy as with Visual Basic, but capable of getting the job done. I can recommend a site with emacs for Windows as well if you don't already have it. Several of these lisp environments have descriptions of integrating with emacs (or Xemacs). Some other resources that could help with examples or information about the domain you describe (2d / 3d object manipulation) include: http://www.psg.com/~dlamkins/sl/cover.html Successful Lisp - an on line book describing lisp. Chapter 7 has some examples of definitions for objects (2d / 3d points) and an object hierarchy covering graphical elements. Chapter 3 has a tutorial "Essential Lisp in 12 Lessons". http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/Groups/AI/html/faqs/lang/lisp/part7/faq-doc-2.html "What Graphers / Browsers are Available?" from the Lisp FAQ, leading to http://www.ai.sri.com/~grasper/ Perhaps a stretch, but Grasper is a very interesting looking package, showing some of the capabilities of displays in Lisp. It appears you may be able to get source code - but it likely requires some email discussion with the developers. There are other packages such as CLIM, but it appears they support X-windows only (and not Microsoft Windows). If you have access to an X server (e.g., Hummingbird or Exceed), let me know so I can make further suggestions. If you have Tcl/Tk, there are a few packages that support that as well. Let me know if you need references. Another good site I found is http://www.computists.com/index.html which has an interesting collection of email messages / articles - primarily material published in 2001. Check the Public Archives or see an example at http://www.computists.com/archives/crs11toc.html which has a number of Common Lisp references, Artificial Intelligence references, Mobile Robots, and so on. A number of links from these pages to where further information can be found. This is a pretty open ended question - let me know if you need clarification or further information on this topic. --Maniac