6 ms·

Some Lisp books (and then some)

138 points by raju 14y ago

brudgers 14y ago
>"Some books are worth any price" On Lisp is available for free download. http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisptext.html http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisptext.html So is McCarthy's Lisp Programmer's Manual http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/book/LISP%201.5%20Programmers%20Manual.pdf http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/book/LISP%... Much of Let Over Lambda is available here: http://letoverlambda.com/textmode.cl/guest/toc http://letoverlambda.com/textmode.cl/guest/toc
- fogus 14y ago
  These links have been added. Thank you.
- psykotic 14y ago
  Let Over Lambda is a fantastic read. Don't make the mistake of writing it off as I did due to the author's triumphant tone. Indeed, the rhetoric is so over the top it is often indistinguishable from parody. He is the Ayn Rand of Common Lisp. But if you can get over that, you will find a range of unusual macrological acrobatics on display that even veteran Lispers will appreciate.
  - brudgers 14y ago
    Most Lisp books seem to begin like the opening sequence of Quincy, ME - similar to forensic medicine, Lisp is not for everyone. But the rewards may include a sailboat, white wine, and pleasant company. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXf4tV_aeDc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXf4tV_aeDc
    - psykotic 14y ago
      Oh, the rhetoric is arrogant and self-congratulatory even by the standards of Lisp books. It's either amusing or aggravating, depending on your point of view.
limist 14y ago
Well, someone's gotta' mention SICP, the book that has probably turned more people on to Lisp than any other: http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-4.html http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-4.html
- nessus42 14y ago
  Indeed! It's hard to believe that SICP is not on the OP's list. It should be on any list of books on Lisp.
  - silentbicycle 14y ago
    It's arguably less of a Lisp book, and more of an excellent book on programming that uses (a dialect of) Lisp.
psykotic 14y ago
The Architecture of Symbolic Computers was not known to me and looks very interesting. Unfortunately, it's long out of print and the price for used copies on AbeBooks is high. If anyone has a copy in the Seattle area they'd like to donate for the general good of hackerdom, I have a paper guillotine and an industrial sheet-feed scanner at work. I've used them before to digitize parts of my personal library. If not, I might at some point buy a used copy.
- kabdib 14y ago
  [PM'd you; I have a copy I can surrender for rendering :) ]
  - andrewcooke 14y ago
    does that mean the results will be shared? not sure if this is legal, but i would be interested in the final pdf (or whatever)... andrew@acooke.org - thanks. (i am getting upvotes, so others too...)
  - kirubakaran 14y ago
    Can I get the pdf too, please? lisp@kirubakaran.com
  - famoreira 14y ago
    I would love to get a (digital) copy :) famoreira@gmail.com
  - stevejb 14y ago
    I should add my name to this: stephenjbarr at gmail dot com
  - notaddicted 14y ago
    love a look as well: jhl805@gmail.com
  - raju 14y ago
    I would be interested too ... should be worth a look. Thanks! raju.gandhi at google's service
brudgers 14y ago
The two more Lisp books: Paul Graham's ANSI Common Lisp - I purchased a used copy from Amazon. What I like is that it is a text book and has true exercises and not just code to type in. The downside is that complex ideas are often described briefly. Peter Seibel's Practical Common Lisp has been a useful supplement because it goes into some topics in greater depth (i.e. it offers a more gentle introduction). I've been using the online version [which was the subject of an HN thread recently]: http://gigamonkeys.com/book/ http://gigamonkeys.com/book/ What is particularly nice is that it formats very legibly on my phone, making it great for reading any where (except the bathtub). The lack of exercise problems is a bit of a drawback for the way I learn.
- hntester123 14y ago
  I had read some of Practical Common Lisp, found it good (I'm new to Lisp still, though have dabbled in it over the years a bit) and plan to read the rest sometime later. Do you happen to have a link to that HN thread that discusses the book, or remember (part of) the title of the thread? Would like to read it.
  - brudgers 14y ago
    Turns out I found the book through the article, which was about Peter Seibel. However, here's the link to the item: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4186129 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4186129
    - hntester123 14y ago
      Thanks for the link.
rabidsnail 14y ago
"Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp" by Peter Norvig is also excellent.
- lispm 14y ago
  IMHO better than any book on that list.
  - fogus 14y ago
    Everyone already knows about PAIP so I didn't originally include it; however it seems that popular demand wins in this case.
- andrewcooke 14y ago
  seconded. there's also the clos book (amop), which is generally recognised as a classic (i think? personally i own a copy but didn't finish it...) clos book - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_the_Metaobject_Protocol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_the_Metaobject_Proto... apropos absolutely nothing, except that i finished reading it last night, the book (and manual for) ggplot2 is both a good introduction to that software (ggplot2 generates plots in r) and would serve as an excellent start for someone who wanted to implement the same in other languages. the whole thing is based on a domain model for plotting, which makes a huge amount of sense. after reading it, i am convinced every language will eventually have a similar package/dsl for plotting. i don't think even incanter (r in clojure, sort-of) has a version yet, so as far as i know there is no ggplot2 in any lisp. it would be a great project for someone... this is (a review of) the domain model - http://www.jstatsoft.org/v17/b03/paper http://www.jstatsoft.org/v17/b03/paper
  - disgruntledphd2 14y ago
    I completely agree with you on ggplot, its amazing. I was also thinking of implementing it in clojure, but don't really have the time right now, due to work and PhD. The book by Wilkinson might be better though, as that's where Hadley got it from.
- 14y ago
smokel 14y ago
While searching for more information on these books, I stumbled upon "Land of Lisp" (http://landoflisp.com/ http://landoflisp.com/), which might be nice.
- tsm 14y ago
  That's a great book for new programmers, but if you already know you like Lisp and have the experience to be able to dive into PCL or PAIP or whatever, LoL is unnecessary. The books in the OP are valuable for any programmer.
abecedarius 14y ago
Wow, someone else who's read the Sokolowski book. I agree that it's very, very good, though it's been so long that I'm not sure how much it has to offer people today. (I don't own a copy.)

138 points by raju 14y ago

>"Some books are worth any price" On Lisp is available for free download. http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisptext.html http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisptext.html So is McCarthy's Lisp Programmer's Manual http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/book/LISP%201.5%20Programmers%20Manual.pdf http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/book/LISP%... Much of Let Over Lambda is available here: http://letoverlambda.com/textmode.cl/guest/toc http://letoverlambda.com/textmode.cl/guest/toc

fogus 14y ago
These links have been added. Thank you.
psykotic 14y ago
Let Over Lambda is a fantastic read. Don't make the mistake of writing it off as I did due to the author's triumphant tone. Indeed, the rhetoric is so over the top it is often indistinguishable from parody. He is the Ayn Rand of Common Lisp. But if you can get over that, you will find a range of unusual macrological acrobatics on display that even veteran Lispers will appreciate.
- brudgers 14y ago
  Most Lisp books seem to begin like the opening sequence of Quincy, ME - similar to forensic medicine, Lisp is not for everyone. But the rewards may include a sailboat, white wine, and pleasant company. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXf4tV_aeDc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXf4tV_aeDc
  - psykotic 14y ago
    Oh, the rhetoric is arrogant and self-congratulatory even by the standards of Lisp books. It's either amusing or aggravating, depending on your point of view.

limist 14y ago

Well, someone's gotta' mention SICP, the book that has probably turned more people on to Lisp than any other: http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-4.html http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-4.html

nessus42 14y ago
Indeed! It's hard to believe that SICP is not on the OP's list. It should be on any list of books on Lisp.
- silentbicycle 14y ago
  It's arguably less of a Lisp book, and more of an excellent book on programming that uses (a dialect of) Lisp.

psykotic 14y ago

The Architecture of Symbolic Computers was not known to me and looks very interesting. Unfortunately, it's long out of print and the price for used copies on AbeBooks is high. If anyone has a copy in the Seattle area they'd like to donate for the general good of hackerdom, I have a paper guillotine and an industrial sheet-feed scanner at work. I've used them before to digitize parts of my personal library. If not, I might at some point buy a used copy.

kabdib 14y ago
[PM'd you; I have a copy I can surrender for rendering :) ]
- andrewcooke 14y ago
  does that mean the results will be shared? not sure if this is legal, but i would be interested in the final pdf (or whatever)... andrew@acooke.org - thanks. (i am getting upvotes, so others too...)
- kirubakaran 14y ago
  Can I get the pdf too, please? lisp@kirubakaran.com
- famoreira 14y ago
  I would love to get a (digital) copy :) famoreira@gmail.com
- stevejb 14y ago
  I should add my name to this: stephenjbarr at gmail dot com
- notaddicted 14y ago
  love a look as well: jhl805@gmail.com
- raju 14y ago
  I would be interested too ... should be worth a look. Thanks! raju.gandhi at google's service

brudgers 14y ago

The two more Lisp books: Paul Graham's ANSI Common Lisp - I purchased a used copy from Amazon. What I like is that it is a text book and has true exercises and not just code to type in. The downside is that complex ideas are often described briefly. Peter Seibel's Practical Common Lisp has been a useful supplement because it goes into some topics in greater depth (i.e. it offers a more gentle introduction). I've been using the online version [which was the subject of an HN thread recently]: http://gigamonkeys.com/book/ http://gigamonkeys.com/book/ What is particularly nice is that it formats very legibly on my phone, making it great for reading any where (except the bathtub). The lack of exercise problems is a bit of a drawback for the way I learn.

hntester123 14y ago
I had read some of Practical Common Lisp, found it good (I'm new to Lisp still, though have dabbled in it over the years a bit) and plan to read the rest sometime later. Do you happen to have a link to that HN thread that discusses the book, or remember (part of) the title of the thread? Would like to read it.
- brudgers 14y ago
  Turns out I found the book through the article, which was about Peter Seibel. However, here's the link to the item: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4186129 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4186129
  - hntester123 14y ago
    Thanks for the link.

rabidsnail 14y ago

"Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp" by Peter Norvig is also excellent.

lispm 14y ago
IMHO better than any book on that list.
- fogus 14y ago
  Everyone already knows about PAIP so I didn't originally include it; however it seems that popular demand wins in this case.
andrewcooke 14y ago
seconded. there's also the clos book (amop), which is generally recognised as a classic (i think? personally i own a copy but didn't finish it...) clos book - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_the_Metaobject_Protocol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_the_Metaobject_Proto... apropos absolutely nothing, except that i finished reading it last night, the book (and manual for) ggplot2 is both a good introduction to that software (ggplot2 generates plots in r) and would serve as an excellent start for someone who wanted to implement the same in other languages. the whole thing is based on a domain model for plotting, which makes a huge amount of sense. after reading it, i am convinced every language will eventually have a similar package/dsl for plotting. i don't think even incanter (r in clojure, sort-of) has a version yet, so as far as i know there is no ggplot2 in any lisp. it would be a great project for someone... this is (a review of) the domain model - http://www.jstatsoft.org/v17/b03/paper http://www.jstatsoft.org/v17/b03/paper
- disgruntledphd2 14y ago
  I completely agree with you on ggplot, its amazing. I was also thinking of implementing it in clojure, but don't really have the time right now, due to work and PhD. The book by Wilkinson might be better though, as that's where Hadley got it from.
14y ago

smokel 14y ago

While searching for more information on these books, I stumbled upon "Land of Lisp" (http://landoflisp.com/ http://landoflisp.com/), which might be nice.

tsm 14y ago
That's a great book for new programmers, but if you already know you like Lisp and have the experience to be able to dive into PCL or PAIP or whatever, LoL is unnecessary. The books in the OP are valuable for any programmer.

abecedarius 14y ago

Wow, someone else who's read the Sokolowski book. I agree that it's very, very good, though it's been so long that I'm not sure how much it has to offer people today. (I don't own a copy.)