Hey all,
I notice there has been very little activity on this list for the past few months. Is there anything happening with this group?
Recently I picked up Practical Common Lisp, and so far it is about the best programming book I have ever read. This is my first real exposure to Lisp; by day I am stuck working in Java and loathing every minute of it. Lisp is really opening my mind, though not in the same head-exploding way as Haskell (which I am also trying to pick up).
If there are any plans for another meeting, or any sort of group project, I'd like to try getting involved. No doubt I would be the least proficient Lisp programmer of the bunch, but it would be fun all the same.
Thanks,
Jason Foreman
Jason Foreman wrote:
Hey all,
I notice there has been very little activity on this list for the past few months. Is there anything happening with this group?
Not a whole lot. There are a couple of talks lined up (myself and Brian Mastenbrook, reprising our ILC 2005 presentations), but we were waiting until, um, around now for people to filter back after summer vacations. We should get on the ball about that now that summer is ending.
Paul Dietz dietz@dls.net
Jason Foreman wrote:
Recently I picked up Practical Common Lisp, and so far it is about the best programming book I have ever read.
I don't know if I'd go THAT far.... but it's close. To me, Starting FORTH and Thinking FORTH are pretty close :-)
This is my first real exposure to Lisp; by day I am stuck working in Java and loathing every minute of it.
Funny - Java is one I've been trying recently to pick up :-)
However, I've been struggling to gain full-fledged expertise in LISP since 1981 or so.... The idea of lower-case LISP, and the use of FIRST SECOND THIRD et al took some time to get used to :-)
I find that LISP and FORTH have a LOT in common - LISP has macros, FORTH has CREATE ... DOES> ...; LISP and FORTH both operate with bottom-up design and what I call "micro-procedures" (FORTH has words, LISP has functions). Both are beautiful to the artist.
The one drawback I find is that a lot of LISP is centered on AI; a recent LISP project was to interface with a PostgreSQL database containing a list of RPMs on systems and report differences and similarities in different ways - not at all related to AI in the least.
Paul Graham, likewise, reports a significant use for him was the creation of a electronic storefront - also not related to AI in the least.
I've also played with myLisp on the Palm; anyone have anything to relate about their use of this tool?
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David Douthitt -
Jason Foreman -
Paul F. Dietz