Customer Reviews

Lisp (3rd Edition)

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3 star:		(2)
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Winston and Horn's "Lisp" is an old chestnut. It has stuck around, undergone several editions, and remains in print for a reason; it's a very clear and thorough introduction to programming in Lisp (and, beginning with the 2nd edition, it is specifically about Common Lisp, the most widely adopted dialect of Lisp). In fact, it's probably the best introduction to Lisp there is; yet it's not the right book for every beginning Lisp programmer.

This book is apparently intended for programmers who are not only new to Lisp, but fairly new to programming in general. Consequently, it would not be the ideal book for a seasoned programmer who already knows multiple languages and simply wants to learn one more. I suspect that such a person would find this book a bit on the pedantic side, as it covers basic concepts at length. A better place to start for experienced programmers would probably be Paul Graham's fine book "ANSI Common Lisp", or perhaps even, "Lisp in Small Pieces" by Christian Queinnec, which covers interpreters and compilers in addition to Lisp programming. If you are looking for a very complete reference on Common Lisp (as opposed to Scheme), then Guy Steele's book "Common Lisp, The Language" is the right choice; it's another old chestnut. Finally, if you are not set on Common Lisp, you may want to consider "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs", by Abelson, Sussman, and Sussman, which is a Scheme classic.

Winston & Horn's book has some very nice features. It not only covers all the basics, it also covers CLOS, the "Common Lisp Object System", which is to Common Lisp what C++ is to C; that is, it is an addition to Common Lisp (essentially a "layer") that allows the programmer to define classes, sub-classes (with inheritance), and methods. In my opinion, CLOS is by far the most compelling reason to use Common Lisp rather than Scheme. Winston & Horn also do an admirable job of explaining both "lexical" and "dynamic" scoping, with the former being the most important. In fact, it is essential to understand "lexical closures" before one can write effective Lisp programs, which is why Winston & Horn devote so much attention to them, even developing a kind of graphical representation for them.

Over all, this is a fine introduction to Common Lisp, and programming in general. It's an oldie but a goodie.

For a beginner, the first 15 or so chapters of this book are a good introduction to Common Lisp. After that, however, it shifts gears and turns into an AI book that uses Lisp. Perhaps this is not surprising since it was written by two gents from MIT's famed AI Lab, but I was interested in learning Lisp, not AI. I really think that the last half should have focused on the parts of CL that were skipped in the begining.

This is a good book to use if this is your first introduction to programming in LISP. Although some of the examples are a bit elementary, it is a good introduction to the language. The most frustrating thing is trying to use the book as a reference. The index is poor and due to the book's organization it makes looking up things a nightmare. If you're going to buy this book, buy a good reference book to go with it.

Review for 2cd edition: I would recommend this book only to people who haven't seen Lisp at all and are fairly new to programming in general. To be brief:
- not a language reference
- of little use to people who already have some Lisp experience
- not a model for learning finer points of lisp programming style
- not a 'how does lisp really work'- building interpreters and compilers book.
The book is regarded as a classic of sorts, but I didnt feel there was anything particularly outstanding about it, though it is well written. The first half covers basic programming and the rest is a series of applications/examples, mostly AI-ish stuff. Some of these later chapters are interesting, some lame, and a few feel a little outdated. I felt the discussion of lexical/dynamic scoping was very poor (perhaps the 3rd edition has improved this), and in general the book tries to ignore or brush off the more complicated (but very important) issues in lisp. The chapter on object-oriented programming was written before OOP became popular and more standardized. The final chapter on lisp interpreters (in lisp) was much too short. But it looks like a fine place to start learning Lisp, though you will quickly need additional books (and you may want to consider Scheme instead of Common Lisp).

This is a nicely written introduction to Lisp, with the topics divided into small, digestable pieces followed by exercises with the answers in the back.

The book does not overwhelm you with trivial details, which makes it easier to learn from. However, that also means you'll probably need a second book fairly quickly, which goes into greater detail. For example, the book describes reading from and writing to files, but I don't see anything on appending to files or replacing files.

I am a beginning Lisp programmer. So far, I have read several books and websites on Lisp, but this is the best. It covers all the fields necessary for effective Lisp programming. The explanation is crystal clear. For example, I have had problem in differentiating among "equal", "eql", "eq", and "=", but one paragraph in this book resolved this problem for me once for all. It contains a lot of exercise problems with appropriate levels of difficulty, which is optimum for self-teaching. I strongly recommend this book for all programmers learning Lisp.

I have been through Gentle Introduction by Touretsky, ANSI Common by Graham, and Practical Common LISP ....all pissed me off. This book is what I have been waiting for, a BEGINNER BOOK, I am on chapter 3 and many of the concepts I have learned before are sinking in with this book. Lisp is fun and easy. I am using linux and vi editor with set: ai lisp option once I open vi. I load my definitions by launching clisp -i myfile.txt. There is a typo on p39 where the second both-ends definition should have LAST not REST. This made me blink until I realized it is a typo. Just above both-ends is defined correctly. It is obvious AFTER you see it let me tell you... lol The only other thing that is bad is that the right page text has a nice 2 inch space away from the book binding so it is easy to read. The left page reversed this and put the 2 inches of space on the outside away from the binding, so the text is right up against the book binding. If this is reprinted they should fix that.....hard to read many practice problems on left page since the text on the left page curves so hard toward the book binding since this is a huge tome.
AWESOME BOOK!! COMMON LISP NEEDED IT!!

Whether your interest is learning a LISP dialect (new or old) or just a general interest in artificial intelligence, you can start with this book. The exercises are concise, clear, and useful in real-world applications. After all these years, there is still not a better primer. A must have for anyone interested in LISP programming.

This is the very best introduction to Lisp. It teaches you how to really use Lisp in real situations. And it goes on to advanced topics (LISP in LISP, OOP in LISP, Constraint Propagation, Databases, Symbolic Pattern Matching, etc.) showing the amazing force of LISP.
It builds your LISP skills slowly, but thoroughly, from the very basic to AI.
Professor Winston is a highly regarded name in the AI community, too.
Absolutely a must!

From the very beginnings to advanced topics, this book will cover the Lisp language in a way newcomers will feel safe and at home. You'll certainly understand what Lisp is and what it is good for, perhaps for the first time. You'll learn this wonderful language without any difficulties from this book.
A piece of advice: I purchased an old used copy of this old book. I think this book is the best in its category: for a handful of dollars, you can purchase one of the best comprehensive books on Lisp ever written. Look for an used copy here at Amazon. Buy it and you'll never again receive so much for so little.