LISP: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation [Paperback]

David S. Touretzky (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harper & Row, Publishers (May 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006046657X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060466572
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,628,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > Lisp

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4.0 out of 5 stars At the time of publication, one of the best books for learning LISP, September 6, 2009

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: LISP: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation (Paperback)

Over twenty years ago when I was beginning my journey into the study of computer science, I was a college math teacher. When my colleague that taught computer science began praising the programming language LISP I went to the library and checked out a book. At the time I could program in Basic and Fortran and knew a little Pascal but I was lost less than 10 pages into the book I was trying to read. The LISP language seemed impossible; the syntax was so odd that I almost gave up hope in trying to learn it.

Fortunately, before I did that I went back to my colleague and asked him if he knew of a good book for learning LISP and one of those he suggested was this one. As I started banging my way through the exercises I stumbled at first but it did not take long before the light bulb went off and it started making sense. Reading through it and trying a few of the examples the different way to program represented by LISP began to sink in. Although I never became terribly fluent in the language, I learned enough LISP reading this book in combination with a few others so that I could intelligently handle the sections involving LISP when I later taught a course in programming language concepts.