Let Over Lambda [Paperback]

Doug Hoyte (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2008

Let Over Lambda is one of the most hardcore computer programming books out there. Starting with the fundamentals, it describes the most advanced features of the most advanced language: Common Lisp. Only the top percentile of programmers use lisp and if you can understand this book you are in the top percentile of lisp programmers. If you are looking for a dry coding manual that re-hashes common-sense techniques in whatever langue du jour, this book is not for you. This book is about pushing the boundaries of what we know about programming. While this book teaches useful skills that can help solve your programming problems today and now, it has also been designed to be entertaining and inspiring. If you have ever wondered what lisp or even programming itself is really about, this is the book you have been looking for.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Lulu.com (April 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1435712757
• ISBN-13: 978-1435712751
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #122,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Advanced. Audacious. Inspirational., October 31, 2008

By 

Matthew C. Lamari - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Let Over Lambda (Paperback)

Let over Lambda is an exploratory journey into advanced techniques involving Common Lisp features and language properties, that can be combined in ways that result in more than the sum of their parts.

There are plenty of "wow, that is cool" moments and useful constructs demonstrated, that will probably make it into the reader's toolkit. But of greater importance is the progression in how these are delivered. While not a broad tutorial in Common Lisp (although the reader-macro chapter could serve fairly well in that capacity), Let over Lambda contains an underlying tutorial on the incremental/iterative development of such macros/tools against desired requirements - building up to constructs via interim revisions and explanations.

A book involving Lisp has little choice but to stand on the shoulders of giants, and by necessity these are frequently referenced and cited. The most important of these is Graham's "On Lisp" (currently available for free download) - which, while attempting to cover the breadth of the language, is regarded as one of the more advanced texts on macros. Some topics introduced in On Lisp (such as the leveraging of unhygienic macros) are taken much further in Let over Lambda, and combined with other constructs (such as capture/closures) that would have to be described separately in more general purpose tutorial or language overview.

The writing style definitely includes an "attitude" that is partially inherent to the material being discussed and partially from the author's obvious passion (a passion that becomes REALLY obvious in the Forth chapter). Hoyte often highlights the blanket superiority of Common Lisp over all other languages; but to a reader who has put in the time to learn Lisp macrology in enough detail to understand this book, this isn't a particularly large stretch. Also, certain comfortable safety idioms are challenged as being more safeguards for beginners. On several occasions, the reader receives an explanation: "Here is the what and why of adhering to restriction X. Now here are the incredible things that become possible when you break it!" This is demonstrated via unhygienic macros, as well as the broader concept of "duality of syntax" - a definition that evolves throughout the book.

Early in the introduction Hoyte states that macros (in a language that can leverage them) are more than just boilerplate-reduction tools for known simple cases; but that their power represents a sort of "uncharted territory" of immense potential. Certain common (seemingly) ideological arguments (things like lisp-1 vs lisp-2), were laid out against a backdrop of examples and threaded into the theme of the entire book. While often going out on a limb, the author makes his case.

I was inspired by this book.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind blowing tutorial to macro writing, March 29, 2009

By 

Slobodan Blazeski (Skopje, Macedonia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Let Over Lambda (Paperback)

This book is for intermediate or advanced lisper. It's great writing, with excellent style and very fun to read. Doug Hoyte is extremely intelligent person who shared his specific techniques of metaprogramming and macro writing. Reading this book will introduce you to many cool utilities and knowledge that will advance your lisp macro skills. Paraphrasing Alan Perlis : a book that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth reading. And let over lambda certainly will influence the way you think. You might disagree with Hoyte, or ignore his advice but you will certainly learn there is another way of lisping.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another lisp book to add to your collection, September 2, 2009

By 

Brent M. Millare - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Let Over Lambda (Paperback)

I've recently moved up from being a lisp beginner to an intermediate lisp user. Part of doing that is reaching a better understanding of closures and writing macros. LoL does a good job of helping you get to that next stage in the first set of chapters (my favorite part of the book). I find Doug's writing style to be easy to follow and somewhat more enjoyable than Paul Graham's OnLisp. LoL uses macros in ways not covered in other lisp texts including OnLisp. For that reason alone is it worth getting. I'm still growing as a lisp programmer and the other chapters are still beyond my understanding but I can easily see myself coming back to it when I'm ready.