Lisp

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition (MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)

Average customer rating:

from a student who use the book for a course
A Computer Science grand tour
Great Texbook
This should be on your bookshelf
Mental Barbells

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition (MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
Harold Abelson , and Gerald Jay Sussman
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Instructor's Manual t/a Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition
The Little Schemer - 4th Edition
ANSI Common LISP
Practical Common Lisp
Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp

ASIN: 0262011530

Amazon.com

Abelson and Sussman's classic Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs teaches readers how to program by employing the tools of abstraction and modularity. The authors' central philosophy is that programming is the task of breaking large problems into small ones. The book spends a great deal of time considering both this decomposition and the process of knitting the smaller pieces back together.

The authors employ this philosophy in their writing technique. The text asks the broad question "What is programming?" Having come to the conclusion that programming consists of procedures and data, the authors set off to explore the related questions of "What is data?" and "What is a procedure?"

The authors build up the simple notion of a procedure to dizzying complexity. The discussion culminates in the description of the code behind the programming language Scheme. The authors finish with examples of how to implement some of the book's concepts on a register machine. Through this journey, the reader not only learns how to program, but also how to think about programming.

Book Description

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs has had a dramatic impact on computer science curricula over the past decade. This long-awaited revision contains changes throughout the text.

There are new implementations of most of the major programming systems in the book, including the interpreters and compilers, and the authors have incorporated many small changes that reflect their experience teaching the course at MIT since the first edition was published.

A new theme has been introduced that emphasizes the central role played by different approaches to dealing with time in computational models: objects with state, concurrent programming, functional programming and lazy evaluation, and nondeterministic programming. There are new example sections on higher-order procedures in graphics and on applications of stream processing in numerical programming, and many new exercises.

In addition, all the programs have been reworked to run in any Scheme implementation that adheres to the IEEE standard.

Customer Reviews:

from a student who use the book for a course .......2007-05-04

I'm an undergrad who is currently taking an introductory class in C.S using the book as the primary textbook (actually, the only textbook). Sadly, I'm taking it with another class in computer architecture with heavy emphasis on system programming (a la C, MIPS). Like one of the reviewers having pointed out, the excessive zeal of pedantic and theoretical C.S has left the students clueless about the connection between reality and fundamental ideas presented in the book. The authors enforces a grand vision of solving problems independent of programming language. Sadly, this is not the case in practice (I have been trying to port some algorithms in the book into C, oh boy, what a frustrating experience). This vision has left me a very bad impression on Scheme (a good-for-nothing language invented by geeks to impress other geeks).

Some people have said they liked the book. At the beginning of semester. I liked the book too, since programming in functional style is completely new to me (who major in C.S wouldn't delight at learning new thing). HOWEVER, the more I delved into the book while taking a computer architecture course at the same time (in which I have to design a complete 8-bit CPU from ground up, as well as doing a lot of low-level programming), the more I feel there are some fundamental issues with using Scheme (or any other functional languages for that matter) as a tool to interpret and design machines and programs. It just struck me as very odd to design a computer "recursively". How ironic that the book is called "STRUCTURE and INTERPRETATION of computer programs".

I agree with some reviewers in here who bashed C in favor of Scheme. C is not a very good language, but C deserves praises. There are reasons why it has been around forever (both in academic and in industry), and at this rate, I don't see how any functional languages would emerge out of academics as replacement for C. The authors in book braggs that only Fortran has been surviving longer than Scheme, but besides surviving in the this textbook (which has been pushed down my throat by my school), I haven't seen Scheme anywhere else.

This textbook reminds me of the Feynman series in Physics. A series which everyone talks about, but when it comes to reality, it's just best used as a supplementary to look up for reference and self-congratulate as being "smart" rather than the one used to teach and learn from.

A Computer Science grand tour.......2007-03-17

I discovered this text, I believe, while browsing The Aerospace Corp Library in '90. I was immediately taken with it, wishing my own undergraduate program in CS had incorporated its use. The first two chapters on procedural and data abstraction are much better CS preparation than learning Java or C++ or Ada or Pascal. Abstraction and specificiation in software development are absolutely necessary if software "art" is ever to become a "science."

I used this text last year to teach a one year introduction to computer science to some rather advanced homeschooled high school students. Scheme is a much better choice for a teaching language than C++ or Java. There is no need to deal with memory management issues as with C++ and the development model is simpler than with Java. And scheme makes many things easier to achieve than with other languages: higher-order procedures (chapter 1) and hierarchical data (chapter 2).

For my own enjoyment and personal enrichment I have used chapters 4 and 5 as a basis for my own explicit control evaluator for scheme in C++.

A classic. Every CS graduate should do remedial work now and read this text, if they have not done so already.

Great Texbook.......2007-03-15

I purchased this texbook for my first computer class since it was required. It's a great book, but I'm glad we did not cover it entirely. Too much material, and Scheme is not that popular of a language. Price was right though!

This should be on your bookshelf.......2007-03-02

This is a 'must have' book for anyone wishing to practice the craft of programming. It is enigmatic in that it requires little background in programming, but leads swiftly and easily into non-trivial concepts. Of course one must do the exercises, which are varied and practical, the most they ask of the reader is that they understand basic mathematics of Leibniz and Newton. This book will not teach you a collection of tricks, it will give you a way to think about programming. There are a set of lectures by Abelson and Sussman based on the book available at no cost on the Web. Even though they were produced over a decade ago they are well worth watching, and add an interesting flavour to the text. All the software you need to use this text is available for free for a number of platforms. If you are an experienced programmer this is a fun read, if your intention is to learn the art of computer programming, start with SICP, and add Knuth to your bookshelf for reference.

Mental Barbells.......2006-11-26

This book trains your mind to do meta-circular interpreters and higher order functions, recursion, and other things schemers take for granted. hey you with thoes 1 * reviews your just a bunch of blubbers

Average customer rating:

Great book - You'll learn a lot more than Scheme
Not a reference manual
Great programming book
Brilliant Primer, But Not a Reference
Nice approach to learn Scheme

The Little Schemer - 4th Edition
Daniel P. Friedman , and Matthias Felleisen
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Seasoned Schemer
The Reasoned Schemer
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition (MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
The Scheme Programming Language, 3rd Edition
The Haskell School of Expression: Learning Functional Programming through Multimedia

ASIN: 0262560992

Amazon.com

This delightful book leads you through the basic elements of programming in Scheme (a Lisp dialect) via a series of dialogues with well-chosen questions and exercises. Besides teaching Scheme, The Little Schemer teaches the reader how to think about computation. The authors focus on ten essential concepts of thinking about how to compute and demonstrate how to apply these concepts in inventive ways. The Little Schemer is an excellent book both for the beginner and for the seasoned programmer.

Book Description

drawings by Duane Bibby

foreword by Gerald J. Sussman

The notion that "thinking about computing is one of the most exciting things the human mind can do" sets both The Little Schemer (formerly known as The Little LISPer) and its new companion volume, The Seasoned Schemer, apart from other books on LISP. The authors' enthusiasm for their subject is compelling as they present abstract concepts in a humorous and easy-to-grasp fashion. Together, these books will open new doors of thought to anyone who wants to find out what computing is really about.

The Little Schemer introduces computing as an extension of arithmetic and algebra -- things that everyone studies in grade school and high school. It introduces programs as recursive functions and briefly discusses the limits of what computers can do. The authors use the programming language Scheme, and interesting foods to illustrate these abstract ideas. The Seasoned Schemer informs the reader about additional dimensions of computing: functions as values, change of state, and exceptional cases.

The Little LISPer has been a popular introduction to LISP for many years. It had appeared in French and Japanese. The Little Schemer and The Seasoned Schemer are worthy successors and will prove equally popular as textbooks for Scheme courses as well as companion texts for any complete introductory course in Computer Science.

Customer Reviews:

Great book - You'll learn a lot more than Scheme.......2007-02-26

I am amazed that an introductory book can teach so much. Scheme is so simple, and this method so effective, that by the end of the book you'll have written a proof of the halting problem, derived the Y Combinator, written a Scheme interpreter and be very comfortable with recursion.

To get there, be prepared to do a lot of excercises in your scheme interpreter. Occaisionally, the questions the dialog style are asking aren't the ones you'll have in mind, in which case a little re-reading is in order. The payoff is well worth it though.

Not a reference manual.......2007-02-07

If you are looking for a language reference, you will be sorely disappointed with this book. It's not designed for quickly looking things up. However, if you are looking to an easy, painless introduction to functional programming, this is the book you want. The exercises are simple, build carefully on one another, and the theory behind them is explained at every step of the book. The presentation is charming, from the peanut butter and jelly theme throughout the examples, to the cavorting elephants on the cover. Pick this book up as a supplement to the mandatory, dry, exhaustive language reference, and work through the examples a few at a time. You'll find yourself understanding the language much better.

Great programming book.......2007-01-04

This book will change the way you think about programming and recursion.

Brilliant Primer, But Not a Reference.......2006-11-15

The Little Schemer is most emphatically not a reference to the Scheme programming language. Nor will it tell you how to get your Scheme Interpreter to print "Hello World!" These are not flaws, though, any more than my TV's inability to cook a TV dinner is a flaw.

The Little Schemer is written to teach you how to think about programming using recursion, which is the natural way to program in Scheme. And at this, it succeeds brilliantly. It starts with the simplest ideas and then proceeds inductively from those elements to develop programming patterns.

Few people find it natural to think in terms of recursive functions. Scheme's programming style may seem even more foreign to those who have done all their coding in procedural languages, such as C, Java, and Visual Basic. The value of The Little Schemer is in the way it transforms the unnatural into the natural.

Nice approach to learn Scheme.......2006-11-06

This is an easy intro to Scheme. I like the simple, repeated examples. It could, however, benefit from a little discussion at the beginning of each chapter.

Average customer rating:

Excellent book to actually start using Lisp!
Fantastic
Really opened my eyes
Incredible book for an experiences programmer, but LISP newbie
Quintessential Lisp beginners guide

Practical Common Lisp
Peter Seibel
Manufacturer: Apress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

ANSI Common LISP
Successful Lisp: How to Understand and Use Common Lisp
Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp
The Little Schemer - 4th Edition
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition (MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)

ASIN: 1590592395

Book Description

...it has a fresh view on the language and the examples in the later chapters are usable in your day-to-day work as a programmer. </blockquote> — Frank Buss, Lisp Programmer and Slashdot Contributor <div id = "quote"> <blockquote cite="http://www.chipy.org/practicalcommonlisp.html">

If you're interested in Lisp as it relates to Python or Perl, and want to learn through doing rather than watching, Practical Common Lisp is an excellent entry point. </blockquote> — Chris McAvoy, Chicago Python Users Group

Lisp is often thought of as an academic language, but it need not be. This is the first book that introduces Lisp as a language for the real world.

Practical Common Lisp presents a thorough introduction to Common Lisp, providing you with an overall understanding of the language features and how they work. Over a third of the book is devoted to practical examples such as the core of a spam filter and a web application for browsing MP3s and streaming them via the Shoutcast protocol to any standard MP3 client software (e.g., iTunes, XMMS, or WinAmp). In other "practical" chapters, author Peter Seibel demonstrates how to build a simple but flexible in-memory database, how to parse binary files, and how to build a unit test framework in 26 lines of code.

Download Description

Lisp is thought of an academic language but it need not be. This is the first book that introduces Lisp as a language for the real world.

Part I is the introduction to the Lisp language. The goal in Part I is to give the reader an overall understanding of the features of the language and a sufficiently robust understanding of how they work in order to prepare the reader for the practical code examples in Part II. Part I includes the case studies of the Franz Store, Viaweb, Pandorabots, and ASCENT.

Part II will show larger-scale examples of practical Lisp programming. The practical examples in this section are all centered around building a streaming mp3 server. By the end of the book, the reader will have code for a Lisp mp3 server that serves streaming mp3s via the Shoutcast protocol to any standard mp3 client software (e.g. iTunes, XMMS, or WinAmp). Siebel will show how to store metadata in both a simple home- brew sexp database as well as a relational database (MySQL). He will demonstrate how to use threads to support multiple simultaneous client connections. The server will advertise a Web Service (WSDL) interface and a Web Services programmer (i.e. anyone with Visual Studio .NET) can write an app to replace the browser-based interface.

Common Lisp: LISP, an acronym for list processing language was designed for easy manipulation of data. Developed in 1959 by John McCarthy, it is still the most commonly used language for artificial intelligence (AI) programming. It is one of the oldest programming languages still in relatively wide use and is widely taught in universities. LISP's ability to compute with symbolic expressions like those used in language processing makes it convenient for AI applications.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book to actually start using Lisp!.......2007-06-03

I was a bit skeptical about this book, but decided to take a look anyway while I was learning Lisp. It turns out that it was the book where I always went when I wanted to understand some concept and see how it's used in practice.

It also helped me see that Lisp is indeed a great language! I will definetely start using Lisp from now on.

I do recommend this book to anyone willing to start learning Lisp.
However, this is not an advanced book -- it's purpose is to help you get into the Lisp way of thinking and get you ready to start working on real projects. Later you can get others, like Sonya Keene' book on CLOS, and Graham's wonderful "On Lisp".

Fantastic.......2007-06-02

This book is absolutely fantastic. It got me started on lisp in a very easy to follow, *practical* manner. I was impressed with Peter's writing style and choice of examples, particularly the example on writing a 'unit test library' so to speak. The power of macros becomes (IMHO) axiomatic once you see this chapter. It's short (12 pages?), the code is short (26 lines?) but *powerful*. Throughout the book, he demonstrates how to make certain examples more powerful yet more concise through the use of macros and other lisp features. After that I would recommend ANSI Common LISP which is my favorite CS book of all time right now (read: more technical, theoretical, etc. than PCL).

Really opened my eyes.......2007-05-05

I first used Lisp back in my college days in the 80s. I really never saw a practical use for the language then. This is the first book I've read that really shows how useful Lisp can be in a variety of situations. I basically understand the major features now and why they are the way they are. I'm going to start using Lisp now more and more where I can fit it in. This book was really well-written compared to most computer books. Everything from the examples to the exposition really make a lot of sense.

Incredible book for an experiences programmer, but LISP newbie.......2007-03-09

I graduate college with an Electrical Engineering Degree, but took many Computer Science classes. I went into software, instead of hardware, as a career choice. I have used Perl, Java, C, VB 3-6, C# and other languages in my day to day job over 8 years. My only experience with LISP is hearing about it, while in college, and possibly the use of EMACS when doing Unix systems programming in C. While trying to locate good beginning courses for a co-worker, I came across MIT's online 6.001 class, using LISP. This rekindled my interest in learning LISP. The book for this course really didn't answer the "why should I learn LISP?" question. This book does.

After intending to purchase the textbook for that course here at Amazon and actually ordering it, I found this book. I wound up ordering this book and canceling the other (since it was online). If you are very low on funds, you can also find the text of this book online. I prefer a hard copy of the book for easier reference. This book takes me through not just learning LISP, but why certain features are unique and/or important. It is truly a great book for learning LISP.

Quintessential Lisp beginners guide.......2007-02-07

If you go to any forum or other support site for CL and you ask about the best book for a beginner to start with, more than likely you'll be referred to this book. It is an excellent guide now only to Lisp, but to good Lisp programming style. It gives you practical help, but isn't afraid to give mathematical examples to show the power that awaits those that persevere in the brave old world of Lisp.

I, like many others, find it easy to recommend this book to any Common Lisp beginners. You won't be disappointed.

Artificial Intelligence: Structures and Strategies for Complex Problem Solving (5th Edition)

Average customer rating:

Superficial and unclear
Fantastic Introduction to AI
this book not cover much
Good For Beginners in AI
Don't miss it!

Artificial Intelligence: Structures and Strategies for Complex Problem Solving (5th Edition)
George F. Luger
Manufacturer: Addison Wesley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd Edition)
AI Application Programming (Programming Series) (Programming Series)
Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach
Lisp (3rd Edition)
Prolog Programming for Artificial Intelligence

ASIN: 0321263189

Book Description

The fifth edition of this book continues to provide a balanced perspective on the language schools, theories, and applications of artificial intelligence. These diverse branches are unified through detailed discussions of AI's theoretical foundations. The book is broken down into six parts to provide readers complete coverage of AI. It begins by introducing AI concepts, moves into a discussion on the research tools needs for AI problem solving, and then demonstrates representations for AI and knowledge-sensitive problem solving. The second half of the book offers an extensive presentation of issues in machine learning, continues presenting important AI application areas, and presents Lisp and Prolog to the reader. This book is appropriate for programmers both as an introduction to and a reference of the theoretical foundations of artificial intelligence.

Customer Reviews:

Superficial and unclear.......2005-05-27

Trying to gather the greatest audience possible, this book is superficial, completly unclear and boring. Why? Topics are quickly introduced, concepts are rarely analized deeply, it's more discorsive than formal. With so many subjects of AI in the same book not enough space can be given to all of them, so most of the chapters are lists of important algorithms or concepts, barely explained. Do you want to verify it? See the table of contents and the number of pages, and try to see how much space can be given to every point... not enough.

Fantastic Introduction to AI.......2005-01-06

This book really stands out among the AI texts (I've read 4 others). First, the language is clear and simple enough for undergrads to grasp. Second, there are consistent examples that pervade the text to help the reader apply each method to an established problem. Third, the explanations of algorithms/structures are crafted and phrased to TEACH, not merely to summarize a bunch of material for reference purposes. Finally, the programming chapters allow the student to realize the material, and really think about the problems by implementing them and hashing out the details.

I cannot complain about any lack of depth - the length already exceeds 900 pages. To those that desire more, look into academic journals - this is an intro. Moreover, robotics, vision, neural nets, and other topics already have their own "forked" research fields, with textbooks of comparable length focusing on those topics alone!

Enjoy! This text is sure to get you started!

this book not cover much.......2003-07-14

I bought this book for my introduction course in AI. I feel that this book has lack of somethings which are very important, neural networks, and Ai and robotics to name a few. I found that the text is very hard to understand. Again he didn't use enough example to explain some of the topics. I am lost reading this book. The book is not well structured and turned me bored after 30 minutes reading it. The reason are, AI term definations are not included as other book do, few visual diagrams, objective is not well defined. Once again, he didn't include introduction/review of what we acpect to learn of each of every chapters. Reading it is like reading a "white bible". Only plain text and unprofessional layout. This book discorage me reading it. I think i should buy other book that have a wider coverage topics in AI and yet easy to understand, consistent with my AI course syllibus and yet easy for my eyes.

Good For Beginners in AI.......2002-12-05

This is a very good book for anyone wanting to get an insight. Good for the first college course in AI too. It introduces the different areas of AI quite well, and develops logic before doing that. Prolog and LISP are also introduced.

The only reason I wouldn't give this book 5 stars is because
1) The Prolog and LISP features aren't all that great. They could have done better than just explaining what they did.

2) There was very little or almost no depth in the material covered. I wanted to go on reading more about the advanced features, but that never happened. So, I had to go to the library and look for something there.

But a great book for a college course. I wouldn't recommend this for a Grad course in CS...A grad student should be knowing beyond what this book covers.

Don't miss it!.......2002-05-24

This is the best general AI book I've seen this far. It introduces all the popular branches of AI clearly. If you are serious about AI, you should own this book...

Average customer rating:

Not so good for the beginner
Horrible for trying to learn the language
Easy reading for the novice Common Lisp programmer

Common Lispcraft
Robert Wilensky
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Lisp (3rd Edition)
A Solutions Manual for Common Lispcraft
Programming in Prolog: Using the ISO Standard
Programming Languages: Principles and Practice, Second Edition: Principles and Practice
Programmer's guide to LISP

ASIN: 0393955443

Customer Reviews:

Not so good for the beginner.......2003-09-03

Although the author of the book is teaching my LISP class, the book is very difficult for a beginner to LISP and has almost no actual code to learn from. It tends to be wordy and the examples are abstract and not clear. The author is a really nice guy, but in consencus with many of my other classmates, the book is very hard to learn from and brushes over many topics which I have found covered in greater detail in other texts.

Horrible for trying to learn the language.......1999-02-15

While this is a good book for a reference to the language, there are virtually no examples of code within the book at all. If you are new to LISP, you will not benefit much by buying this.

Easy reading for the novice Common Lisp programmer.......1997-11-09

This book is a classic in the Lisp literature. It is extremely readable. Those new to Lisp can gain from this. Good Lisp programming style is emphasized. this book is a reworking of the author's earlier book LispCraft. Ease of reading should be considered this work's greatest asset.

Average customer rating:

introduces the rest of scheme (almost)
Excellent book on thinking recursively
solid material - interesting format

The Seasoned Schemer
Daniel P. Friedman , and Matthias Felleisen
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Little Schemer - 4th Edition
The Reasoned Schemer
The Scheme Programming Language, 3rd Edition
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition (MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
Purely Functional Data Structures

ASIN: 026256100X

Amazon.com

Friedman and Felleisen's The Seasoned Schemer picks up where their book, The Little Schemer, left off and focuses on the myriad uses of functions in Scheme. Using the same dialogue format as The Little Schemer, the authors demonstrate how Scheme's flexible facilities for handling functions give the program so much variety and power. Along the way, the authors also present a variety of other more sophisticated language constructs.

Book Description

drawings by Duane Bibby foreword and afterword by Guy L. Steele Jr.

The notion that "thinking about computing is one of the most exciting things the human mind can do" sets both The Little Schemer (formerly known as The Little LISPer) and its new companion volume, The Seasoned Schemer, apart from other books on LISP. The authors' enthusiasm for their subject is compelling as they present abstract concepts in a humorous and easy-to-grasp fashion. Together, these books will open new doors of thought to anyone who wants to find out what computing is really about.

The Little Schemer introduces computing as an extension of arithmetic and algebra -- things that everyone studies in grade school and high school. It introduces programs as recursive functions and briefly discusses the limits of what computers can do. The authors use the programming language Scheme, and interesting foods to illustrate these abstract ideas. The Seasoned Schemer informs the reader about additional dimensions of computing: functions as values, change of state, and exceptional cases.

The Little LISPer has been a popular introduction to LISP for many years. It had appeared in French and Japanese. The Little Schemer and The Seasoned Schemer are worthy successors and will prove equally popular as textbooks for Scheme courses as well as companion texts for any complete introductory course in Computer Science.

Customer Reviews:

introduces the rest of scheme (almost).......2006-09-04

The Seasoned Schemer continues where the Little Schemer left off introducing local variables via let and it's variations including letrec. Set!, the syntax for changing a variables value is introduced. Continuations, as used for escaping from an computation and for going back to previous position in code are also introduced. There are less references to the accomplishments of famous computer scientists in this book than in the Little Schemer which I found to be disappointing. However, I greatly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone wanting to increase their understanding of the Scheme programming language. Although scheme's vector data type is not introduced, I think you will have enough of an understanding of Scheme after reading this book to make substantial programs.

Excellent book on thinking recursively.......2000-07-27

This book is the second half of "The Little Schemer". It expects you to have mastered the previous volume, so it starts fast and picks up speed from there.

It covers a lot of ground in a slim volume (just as in "The Little Schemer"). This book introduces the concepts of closures and call-with-current-continuation (among other things).

As with "The Little Schemer", this book's strength is in its socratic instruction method. Lessons are written and illustrated as conversations between the reader and the instructor (in question/answer format). While this sounds strange, it is actually surprisingly effective as a means of learning the material. It might seem somewhat like rote instruction, but it can often frame foreign concepts in a rememberable fashion.

Neither of these books require much in the way of background or familiarity with the material. They were created as a means of teaching non-programmers to program in Scheme. However, I think they hold value for trained programmers as well.

solid material - interesting format.......1998-02-24

Dialogue style makes this book fun to read. Leitmotif of food examples keeps the tone light and the reader hungry. Have the number for pizza handy before you sit down for this book.

Focuses on the use of functions in scheme, in an easy reading, enjoyable style. My only minor criticism is that the typographic conventions make the code hard to read. I realize that they serve a purpose, but it made the typesetting ugly.

Book Description

GNU Emacs is the most popular and widespread of the Emacs family of editors. It is also the most powerful and flexible. Unlike all other text editors, GNU Emacs is a complete working environment--you can stay within Emacs all day without leaving. Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd Edition tells readers how to get started with the GNU Emacs editor. It is a thorough guide that will also "grow" with you: as you become more proficient, this book will help you learn how to use Emacs more effectively. It takes you from basic Emacs usage (simple text editing) to moderately complicated customization and programming. The third edition of Learning GNU Emacs describes Emacs 21.3 from the ground up, including new user interface features such as an icon-based toolbar and an interactive interface to Emacs customization. A new chapter details how to install and run Emacs on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, including tips for using Emacs effectively on those platforms. Learning GNU Emacs, third edition, covers: <ul>

How to edit files with Emacs </li>

Using the operating system shell through Emacs </li>

How to use multiple buffers, windows, and frames </li>

Customizing Emacs interactively and through startup files </li>

Writing macros to circumvent repetitious tasks </li>

Emacs as a programming environment for Java, C++, and Perl, among others </li>

Using Emacs as an integrated development environment (IDE) </li>

Integrating Emacs with CVS, Subversion and other change control systems for projects with multiple developers </li>

Writing HTML, XHTML, and XML with Emacs </li>

The basics of Emacs Lisp</li></ul> The book is aimed at new Emacs users, whether or not they are programmers. Also useful for readers switching from other Emacs implementations to GNU Emacs.

Customer Reviews:

Doesn't cover everything, but I've been using Emacs for 3 years and learned a lot here.......2006-02-03

LEARNING GNU EMACS is an introduction to the most powerful text editor ever made, a fully-programmable environment that through contributions from thousands has become something of an operating system in itself. This third edition covers all the new enhancements made in version 21.3.

The book begins with an introduction to Emacs as it : a text editor. It gives basic commands for moving around, describes the look of the user interface, teaches how to search and replace, and how to make simple (and not-so-simple) macros. But Emacs isn't just a simple text editor, it also has extensions to do everything from drawing simple pictures to managing your schedule. In the next portion the book describes among other things Dired, the Emacs file manager, the calendar and diary functions, and how to execute commands from within Emacs.

Since Emacs functions as an integrated-development environment for many programming languages, a fairly large portion of the book focus on how Emacs can help the software developer. Concerning markup languages, this new edition covers the excellent nxml mode for XML documents, and in terms of computer languages it describes modes for C, C++, Java, Perl, SQL, and Lisp. Unfortunately, the Python mode is not discussed. An entire chapter is devoted to Emacs' interface to version control systems like CVS.

The book doesn't aim itself at only a beginner's market. It teaches one already proficient in editing to customize Emacs. At the simplest, this means tinkering with one's "~/.emacs" file, but it also includes using the power of Lisp to change all aspects of Emacs.

This book could only be perfect if it were twice as large as it is now, since Emacs has so much in it. I think it a pity that the book doesn't cover Gnus, a mail and news reader that takes advantage of Emacs' scriptable nature to offer immense configurability and power. In fact, it doesn't cover the popular Mew mail reader or Emacs' limited built-in mail reader at all. Also, the bit on search and replace doesn't give any small intro to regular expressions.

Emacs is not for everyone, and even with a fine book like this some people are not going to like it. But if you are comfortable doing basic editing with Emacs, and want to maximize your efficiency, then LEARNING GNU EMACS can help.

Respects the intellect of one motivated enough to learn Emacs and enables mastery of the tool.......2005-09-15

If a person is thinking of learning <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs.html">GNU Emacs</a>, or if they have been using it and are looking to sharpen their skills and broaden their Emacs savvy, it is a fairly safe assumption that the individual is motivated. This person probably knows their way around a command prompt, and it is likely that they are aware that Lisp is more than just a speech impediment. This person needs a book that offers expert advice without wasting time or insulting the intellect of the reader. Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd Edition is that book.

As a programmer, when firing up a monolithic word processor or graphical IDE to edit a simple script or properties file, one cannot help but wonder if these tools aren't overkill much of the time. For a growing number of users, the answer is yes. The tried-and-true text editor is enjoying a renaissance of sorts. One of the most extensible and customizable applications in the text editing category is the venerable GNU Emacs.

The tutorials and documentation for Emacs are abundant, but they often prove time-consuming and ineffective for actually learning Emacs. This book is a refreshing break from the documentation many have come to expect. Imagine you had a consortium of leading experts on Emacs at your disposal to teach you how to use it in a conversational, consultative style. That is what has been bundled into this latest edition of the book.

The extensibility of Emacs has been both a key strength and a criticism of the application. Its user and developer community have created all sorts of additional capabilities for Emacs, ranging from the impressive to the absurd. The authors have done well to judiciously select what to cover in this edition. For example, while Emacs does have the capability to function as an email client, other applications have long superceded its ability. The authors have chosen not to cover this topic, and instead devote the available space to learning Emacs' core functionality - powerful, efficient text editing. Other peripheral areas of Emacs have been left for the user to research after gaining their solid foundation on Emacs as editor and work environment, such as compatibility modes for programming languages other than Java and Perl.

This edition of the book uses the space gained by the removal of esoteric topics to flesh out areas of more common interest. Integration with the major version control systems has been expanded to include Subversion alongside of the age-old standards CVS, RCS, and SCCS. Coverage of support for Java and Perl has also improved, as well as sections for editing HTML and XML. Users wanting to tap into the power of Lisp programming for Emacs should find the coverage satisfying as well.

Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of this book is the chapter devoted to the use of Emacs on different platforms. Unix, Windows and Mac OS X users receive equal acknowledgement. The precautions and insights regarding Emacs nuances when used on particular platforms can reduce users' frustration when getting started with Emacs.

Even current Emacs users can benefit from this work. The mnemonic devices and conventions used in the book allow users to commit useful keyboard commands to memory. The memorization is further solidified by the exercises sprinkled appropriately through each chapter. Readers do not go for very many pages before it is time to be at the keyboard again, harnessing the power of muscle memory to reinforce the material presented.

A Professional Book for Professional Programmers.......2005-03-19

Most of the Unix/Linux senior level Wizzards that I know use Emacs and swear by it. There are others (vi users especially) who swear at it, but that's another story. Emacs is a huge package and is growing bigger. Although you can consider it a text editor, it's a big, massive package that does a lot more than just edit text.

At the start of the book the authors comment "Many people think that Emacs is an extremely difficult editor to learn. We don't see why." I think the WHY is that most people start with a simpler more fundamental text editor like vi. Then when they think of moving to Emacs their fingers have to un-learn the vi commands to replace them with the Emacs commands. The authors say they don't recommend the vi emulation mode built into Emacs, but fingers sometimes take a long time to un-learn.

If you've just decided to move to Linux, you might want to start with Emacs and never go the vi route. There is no question that Emacs has more power. Comparing to the Microsoft world, I think of vi like NotePad, while Emacs is like Word.

There's an interesting table near the front of the book that asks you what you want to do with Emacs. If you want to write HTML, read Preface and Chapters 1-3 & 8. Then after you are getting some work out of the package, you can go to other chapters as you need them - Chapter 12, for instance to use Emacs to compare files.

About half the book is on 'simple' text editing, where their 'simple' maybe isn't as 'simple' as the rest of us consider 'simple.' I do a lot of SQL, Chapter 9 talks about the editing support for SQL, and for other programming environments like Perl, Lisp, JDEE, etc.

This book is from O'Reilly. O'Reilly does professional quality books for professional programmers. If it's time to learn Emacs, you can't do better than this.

easily edit HTML and XML.......2005-01-30

[A review of the 3rd EDITION.]

To think that emacs was once a little text editor, back in the 80s. The authors describe how it has grown mightily in 20 years, driven by the generously donated time of its fans. The basic editing abilities are of course still there. Essentially unchanged over the years. If this is all you need emacs for, then that is certainly fine.

Ah, but now the book shows support for writing HTML and XML. As well as a nifty browser mode. (Imagine emacs as a browser!) So that you can edit a raw HTML document, with all its requisite tags visible, and then toggle to display it in the emacs browser. Very handy. Other alternatives like the vi editor require you to run vi in one terminal and have a browser showing that file. The XML support is also useful. Actually, the book shows how emacs can handle the broader case of SGML.

Many more emacs features are covered. But the above 2 are prominent ones that should appeal to many.

Update of a helpful Emacs guide.......2005-01-26

The first part of the book is a gentle introduction to basic editing with Emacs, then proceeds on to useful intermediate topics such as dired, shell buffers, etc. The later chapters give the nitty-gritty on advanced topics such as elisp programming. The book has the virtue of retaining usefulness to the user as the user gains experience with Emacs.

The book has been updated to reflect current programming topics: for instance, the section on editing Lex and LaTeX has been dropped and a section on XML has been added.

in re Emacs:

- Emacs has a devoted (even fanatic) user base. The reasons for that are worthy of your consideration.

- The Emacs editor is very good. The keyboard functions are well thought out. The mouse is not needed, which makes it easy and fast to use for the touch-typist (though you can use the mouse if you want in the GUI versions of Emacs). Emacs' programmability makes it possible to emulate other editors, such as vi, in Emacs.

- Emacs runs on most systems. Learn one editor, run it anywhere.

- Ironically Emacs, although having a reputation for being hard to learn, has an excellent on-line help system. (The help pages are also available on the web at http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/#Manuals .)

- Technically speaking, Emacs is not so much an editor as an operating environment into which an editor has been built. Versitile applications can be built inside the Emacs environment which can interact with telnet, ftp, email, web browsing, etc. These applications can be ported to any architecture that supports Emacs. Emacs is much more than "just an editor".

- For programmers who are also Emacs users, Emacs Lisp (elisp) will become the most practical language in their toolkit. Automating day-to-day, keystroke-to-keystroke functionalities will save programmers from the tedium of their jobs. Emacs is tops for automating such tasks, and is my own principle reason for using it.

- Here are two well written opinions on Emacs, each discussing the pluses and minuses:
Eric Raymond's book "The Art of Unix Programming" has discussions of Emacs scattered throughout.

Peter M. Bagnall has a very interesting critique of Emacs at
http://www.surfaceeffect.com/essays/emacs.html , where he contrasts the usefulness of its design with its reputation for being hard to learn.

- Emacs is free - you only need to apply yourself to access an enormous amount of programming capability and editing power.

- Richard Stallman's strongly expressed opinions about ... everything. I don't go along with him on many things, but I am grateful to him for Emacs.

Visual Lisp: A Guide to Artful Programming (Autodesk's Programmer)

Average customer rating:

Great book, the best book on visual lisp and autolisp
Visual Lisp : A guide to Artful Programming
VERY INFORMATIVE

Visual Lisp: A Guide to Artful Programming (Autodesk's Programmer)
Phil Kreiker
Manufacturer: Thomson Delmar Learning
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The AutoCADET's Guide to Visual LISP
AutoLISP to Visual LISP: Design Solutions: Design Solutions for AutoCAD 2000 (Autodesk's Programmer Series)
AutoCAD 2004 VBA: A Programmer's Reference
AutoCAD 2006 VBA: A Programmer's Reference
Autolisp Treasure Chest (Book and 3.5-inch diskette)

ASIN: 0766815498

Book Description

A step-by-step guide to enhancing AutoCAD commands and creating your own. This text and accompanying CD-ROM teaches the professional and higher-level student how to customize AutoCAD software with the new programming language of Visual LISP. If you're looking for guidance on such things as porting over existing AutoLISP routines into Visual LISP, this is the book for you. Keywords: AutoCAD Programming Keywords: Visual LISP

Customer Reviews:

Great book, the best book on visual lisp and autolisp.......2006-07-21

I have seen almoost all the books available on visual lisp and autolisp. I found this one the most useful. The accompanying software creates an elegant and more lisp-like abstraction on the top of visual lisp's VBA-like constructs. Very well designed api, and a thoroughly enjoyable book. Many thanks.

Jayanta

Visual Lisp : A guide to Artful Programming.......2002-02-08

The manual appears to be very good but without the use of the cd file containing all the functions, it's useless. The manual directs to run setup, which isn't there. Upon examination of the the four remaining files there is a list of the four files on cd, no setup and no apparrent way of doing it manually because there is no database of the functins. The manual also suggests downloading the latest version but the website is invalid. Trying to reach Phil Kreiker by email is also invalid. I tried Bill Krammer's, who wrote an intro to the book, websit and found an 800 # only got a lot of run-around. I see nearly a 50/50 split on the feedback on the book. ???Has anyone had this problem??. Amazon.com is still selling it, with the same errors. How good is this book if it is so poorly checked before publishing?
Tom Curtis
curtis@geeksnet.com

VERY INFORMATIVE.......2000-12-06

THE MOST HELPFUL GUIDE TO VISUAL LISP I'VE SEEN SO FAR. A REAL MUST HAVE VOLUME.

Average customer rating:

The future history of programming
Very, very good.
The best book available on Lisp implementation
Good book on functional languages.

Lisp in Small Pieces
Christian Queinnec
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp
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The Reasoned Schemer

ASIN: 0521545668

Book Description

This is a comprehensive account of the semantics and the implementation of the whole Lisp family of languages, namely Lisp, Scheme and related dialects. It describes 11 interpreters and 2 compilers, including very recent techniques of interpretation and compilation. The book is in two parts. The first starts from a simple evaluation function and enriches it with multiple name spaces, continuations and side-effects with commented variants, while at the same time the language used to define these features is reduced to a simple lambda-calculus. Denotational semantics is then naturally introduced. The second part focuses more on implementation techniques and discusses precompilation for fast interpretation: threaded code or bytecode; compilation towards C. Some extensions are also described such as dynamic evaluation, reflection, macros and objects. This will become the new standard reference for people wanting to know more about the Lisp family of languages: how they work, how they are implemented, what their variants are and why such variants exist. The full code is supplied (and also available over the Net). A large bibliography is given as well as a considerable number of exercises. Thus it may also be used by students to accompany second courses on Lisp or Scheme.

Customer Reviews:

The future history of programming.......2005-12-18

I'm not a professional reviewer. But I program a lot, and for a living. After more than 15 years of experience in algorithm development and user interface design, to name some extremes, I get the feeling that "traditional" computer programming languages like C (C++, C#, Objective C) and Pascal (Modula, Oberon, ADA)
and even oldtimers as Cobol and Fortran tend to develop, or rather mature, into languages getting closer and closer to Lisp, Algol, and their ultimate offspring, Scheme.
This is not without reason.
But although the many qualities of Lisp have long since been known in academia, they need time and, more important, good reference material, to find their way into the real world.
Lisp programmers know the value of everything, but the cost of nothing, it is said. Christian Queinnec neatly fills the gap in our knowledge in a book that is a hard read because of the density of the content, but also a fun book because all the source is there (available through the Internet, of course) to experiment with.
You will not only gain insight into the workings of your Lisp system. You will gain insight into the basic elements of computer programming languages and their reason for being, their implementation, and the benefits and costs they will bring you.
All in all, one of the best books on Lisp I have ever almost, but not completely grokked.

I sincerely believe that tomorrow's programming languages, whether they be called C** or Delphi 2010, will be closer to current Lisp than to current C or Pascal, and a way to efficiently implement these languages is available here and now.

The book covers all standard material like direct interpretation, compilation towards a virtual machine using bytecodes, and compilation to C. New material is found in the chapter on macro's , a subject that has regained much interest of late. A broad variety of programming styles is used to illustrate all concepts.

There is only one drawback to the book. It won't teach you Lisp, or Scheme. That is, unless you already know it.

Very, very good........2001-06-15

An unexpectedly good book.

If you're interested in implementation choices for Scheme and the Lisp family of languages, this is an amazing book. Its worth reading even if you never plan to implement a Lisp interpreter and just want to learn a bit of theory and history behind these languages.

The best book available on Lisp implementation.......1999-12-23

This is an excellent book on Lisp implementation. You'll get a lot out of it, whether you are interested in writing compilers and interpreters (for Lisp or any language) or whether you just want to see how Lisp works. It is the modern day successor to Allen's "Anatomy of Lisp".

Good book on functional languages........1999-11-29

This is the English Translation of a book originally published in French, under the title _Les_Langages_Lisp_.

In it, Quinniec covers a variety of different approaches to interpretation and compilation. Typically, an idea is presented with a chapter discussing the issues related to it -- then in the following chapter, a compiler or interpreter that implements it correctly. He covers compilation to C, compilation to bytecodes, direct interpretation, token-reduced interpretation, denotational semantics, lambda-calculus, continuations, macros, and an object system. It's well-written and engaging, and unlike some translations, the English is handled very well. The primary language being considered (and used) is Scheme -- arguably the easiest LISP dialect to implement and the hardest to implement well.

The Art of the Metaobject Protocol
Average customer rating:

A non-lisper's opinion

Authoritative, but less useful than it could be

Highly recommended, but fell short of my expectations

A Must if want to control your Object Inheritence Mechanisms

The Art of the Metaobject Protocol
Gregor Kiczales
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Object-Oriented Programming in Common Lisp: A Programmer's Guide to CLOS

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ANSI Common LISP

ASIN: 0262610744

Amazon.com

This book details the meta-object protocol, the framework on which the Common Lisp object system (CLOS) is based. The philosophy behind the meta-object protocol is that different applications may require different kinds of object models, and so the object model itself should be subject to program control. The Art of the Meta-Object Protocol provides a wonderful working example of how Lisp can be extended and how it can evolve to incorporate new language constructs. First, the book describes how CLOS is actually implemented by working through a subset. Then it goes on to develop the meta- object protocol in great detail. The Art of the Meta-Object Protocol is useful for the advanced CLOS user as well as for anyone interested in object-oriented programming and language design.

Customer Reviews:

A non-lisper's opinion.......2005-10-17

Although I am mostly a C/C++ programmer, I still found this book to be an interesting read. If you, like me, have an interest in programming language design and implementation I highly recommend it. As other reviewers have noted, however, the book has little material for Lisp programmers who just want to use the MOP without looking under the hood. I don't consider this a shortcoming - understanding the design and implementation of your language and tools helps in using them effectively.

Authoritative, but less useful than it could be.......2003-03-27

As a presentation of how to implement the Metaobject Protocol, this is about as authoritative a presentation of CLOS as can exist, short of being a formal (dry!) standards document.

Unfortunately, it falls way short in motivating the USE of the MOP. It shows how it is implemented, and has some examples of how to modify its behaviour. Which is wonderfully useful if your interest is in building your own implementation of MOP. It is not nearly so useful if you're trying to figure out how to apply it to less extraordinary purposes.

To that end, Keene's book on CLOS, which demonstrates quite a number of usage examples, is a vital companion...

Highly recommended, but fell short of my expectations.......2002-01-29

This was a disappointing purchase for me, as I read some of the book on-line (in CMU-CL's "Encycmuclopedia") and was rather stunned at the beauty and possibilities of the MOP (which, in short, is defining the core object system itself in terms of the object system, allowing you to use the full power of the object system class hierarchy/relationships to control your object semantics). The book is a pretty straight forward implentation discussion, which is certainly nice as a case study in implementing such an interrelated system and boot-strapping the MOP into use, but it is only that. The MOP is one of those perfect ideas with such vast potential that I would much rather have seen actual expressions of that potential instead of mere inner working details. If I'd know that, I would not have bought it--but then neither will I be selling my copy.

A Must if want to control your Object Inheritence Mechanisms.......1997-11-09

This book is the first so far to completely discuss the mechanisms of the Metaobject Protocol. This is an advanced treatment and will be of value to the experienced Lisp programmer. The book covers all aspects of the MOP in great detail and when the reader has finished it, he or she will be very comfortable with CLOS mechanisms, and even more importantly, why these features have been implemented in the ways that they have.

Programming Book:

Programming Book

Programming Book