
Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation - tosh
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/LispBook/
======
Annatar
LISP sympathizer here:

I don't need yet another theoretical exercise in how to do computation in
LISP, I need a concrete example of how to load and use getopts LISP code to
construct command line programs in CCL (for example with CLON and CCL).
Programs written in ANSI Common LISP which behave like every other program
found in /usr/bin and /usr/sbin.

What LISP needs is more concrete examples solving everyday problems, like how
to prop up a LISP web server? How to run LISP applications from one? How to
perform string manipulation? Data extraction? How to connect to an Oracle
database? SQLite database? How to package one's finished application into a
pkgsrc or an RPM package? And so on, and so forth.

I'm over the concepts, but that doesn't mean I know how to solve everyday
problems with the language, especially a programming language significantly
different from any other programming language out there.

I spent countless hours trying to figure out how to get the shell program's
getopts equivalent in LISP without writing my own getops implementation from
scratch. No joy. The learning curve for writing a useful program is steep, and
examples would give LISP adoption an enormous boost, like the Practical Common
LISP book does (but it only solves one practical task throughout the entire
book). Most people using a computer want to solve everyday tasks, so the
examples should be task oriented, not to mention that dissecting the finished
product is a great way to teach the language and the concepts, as well as
doing things the LISP way. The link between UNIX and LISP knowledge is
missing.

~~~
jchassoul
If anything on the BEAM ecosystem interest you I highlight recommend you check
out LFE! (=

There are no symbols! you have lots of little processes with lots of
connections between them and you change the strengths of the connections and
that's how we learn things.

~~~
Annatar
I have no idea what you're writing about.

~~~
jchassoul
[https://github.com/rvirding/lfe](https://github.com/rvirding/lfe)

~~~
Annatar
Interesting project.

