5 ms·

A gentle introduction to Lisp

82 points by nkh 17y ago

I found this book to be an extremely clear introduction.

fogus 17y ago
My first Lisp book. Oh the memories.
- whyenot 17y ago
  For me as well. It was also my first real introduction to recursion. Thanks for the dragon stories.
- felideon 17y ago
  Likewise, although I kind of read it alongside PCL. A chapter or two in Gentle Intro, and then the similar/counterpart chapter in PCL. http://gigamonkeys.com/book/ http://gigamonkeys.com/book/
jacquesm 17y ago
Thank you nkh. We should start a nice collection of free programming books like this, there are quite a few of them.
- mahmud 17y ago
  http://www.reddit.com/r/csbooks http://www.reddit.com/r/csbooks
  - bradfordw 17y ago
    Heh, as if I didn't have enough to read already on top of work and school. This is great, thanks for posting!
kqr2 17y ago
Paul Graham's On Lisp: http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisp.html http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisp.html
- mnemonik 17y ago
  ... but I would hardly put On Lisp in the same "gentle" category as Touretzky's book. A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation could easily be someone's first ever programming book. Show me the person whose introduction to programming was On Lisp and I will show you either someone who got fed up real quick, or someone who is a whole lot smarter than me and the coders I know. I would probably recommend this order: 1. Gentle Intro 2. Practical Common Lisp 3. On Lisp
- kylec 17y ago
  I really wish he would do another printing. I've read the PDF but I'd love a physical copy without paying the outrageous prices they're listed for on used book sites (Amazon, eBay, etc).
- mofey 17y ago
  You probably haven't read that one. On Lisp is an advanced book describing the use of macros.
access_denied 17y ago
The elisp tutorial that comes with emacs is a well written starting-point for the total beginner. http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-lisp-intro/html_node/index.html http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-lisp-intro/html_node...
- nickyp 17y ago
  There's also Common Lisp: First Contact: http://homepage.mac.com/svc/CommonLispFirstContact/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/svc/CommonLispFirstContact/index.htm... A very nice 15-page PDF hands-on introduction, in a nice layout optimized for screen-reading on our fancy widescreen displays ;-)
sown 17y ago
As an aside, is there a gentle introduction to prolog?
- stralep 17y ago
  When you mention Prolog, is there microProlog implementation for Linux out there?
- xel02 17y ago
  There is are a couple http://www.learnprolognow.org/ http://www.learnprolognow.org/ http://www.amzi.com/AdventureInProlog/advfrtop.htm http://www.amzi.com/AdventureInProlog/advfrtop.htm A good way is to look at maybe the lecture notes of an undergrad functional programming course. They usually present it quite simply. Unfortunately the course at UBC does not post the lectures online openly but rather through a restricted CMS.
jister 17y ago
I like the "gentle" word in the title. Makes it less intimidating, well at least for me.

82 points by nkh 17y ago

I found this book to be an extremely clear introduction.

fogus 17y ago

My first Lisp book. Oh the memories.

whyenot 17y ago
For me as well. It was also my first real introduction to recursion. Thanks for the dragon stories.
felideon 17y ago
Likewise, although I kind of read it alongside PCL. A chapter or two in Gentle Intro, and then the similar/counterpart chapter in PCL. http://gigamonkeys.com/book/ http://gigamonkeys.com/book/

jacquesm 17y ago

Thank you nkh. We should start a nice collection of free programming books like this, there are quite a few of them.

mahmud 17y ago
http://www.reddit.com/r/csbooks http://www.reddit.com/r/csbooks
- bradfordw 17y ago
  Heh, as if I didn't have enough to read already on top of work and school. This is great, thanks for posting!

kqr2 17y ago

Paul Graham's On Lisp: http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisp.html http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisp.html

mnemonik 17y ago
... but I would hardly put On Lisp in the same "gentle" category as Touretzky's book. A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation could easily be someone's first ever programming book. Show me the person whose introduction to programming was On Lisp and I will show you either someone who got fed up real quick, or someone who is a whole lot smarter than me and the coders I know. I would probably recommend this order: 1. Gentle Intro 2. Practical Common Lisp 3. On Lisp
kylec 17y ago
I really wish he would do another printing. I've read the PDF but I'd love a physical copy without paying the outrageous prices they're listed for on used book sites (Amazon, eBay, etc).
mofey 17y ago
You probably haven't read that one. On Lisp is an advanced book describing the use of macros.

access_denied 17y ago

The elisp tutorial that comes with emacs is a well written starting-point for the total beginner. http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-lisp-intro/html_node/index.html http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-lisp-intro/html_node...

nickyp 17y ago
There's also Common Lisp: First Contact: http://homepage.mac.com/svc/CommonLispFirstContact/index.html http://homepage.mac.com/svc/CommonLispFirstContact/index.htm... A very nice 15-page PDF hands-on introduction, in a nice layout optimized for screen-reading on our fancy widescreen displays ;-)

sown 17y ago

As an aside, is there a gentle introduction to prolog?

stralep 17y ago
When you mention Prolog, is there microProlog implementation for Linux out there?
xel02 17y ago
There is are a couple http://www.learnprolognow.org/ http://www.learnprolognow.org/ http://www.amzi.com/AdventureInProlog/advfrtop.htm http://www.amzi.com/AdventureInProlog/advfrtop.htm A good way is to look at maybe the lecture notes of an undergrad functional programming course. They usually present it quite simply. Unfortunately the course at UBC does not post the lectures online openly but rather through a restricted CMS.

jister 17y ago

I like the "gentle" word in the title. Makes it less intimidating, well at least for me.