1. CLOS and the MOP have some very devoted advocates, and it's obvious that CL's object model contains a strict superset of the behaviors available in other lan

1. CLOS and the MOP have some very devoted advocates, and it's obvious that CL's object model contains a strict superset of the behaviors available in other languages. If you don't absolutely hate OOP, they're worth checking out [1]. 2. Macros. Macros, macros, macros. Commonplaces like "code is data" and "program-writing programs" are useful characterizations, but they make it easy to underestimate how much of a productivity booster metaprogramming can be. Despite regular practice and a lot of first-rate reading material, I stayed clueless about macrology until I got stuck with a big ugly infrastructure problem [2] that forced me to use a bottom-up style. At some point I macroexpanded my code out of curiosity and found myself staring at pages and pages of boilerplate. Some of it -- database code in particular -- even reminded me of stuff I previously would have done by hand. Anyway, I guess I recommend the Kool Aid... [1] OOP owes me my Freshman and Sophomore years. [2] I was building a platform, but I can't talk about it.