Customer Reviews

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

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Lisp is kinda hot again, Perl 6 will have multiple dispatch, Ruby's getting before and after methods, and Aspect Oriented Programming is still bubbling under in Java, so what better time to revisit the Common Lisp Object System and this slim volume from 1989? Unsurprisingly, objects in Lisp are implemented differently to the well-known object systems, even Smalltalk, so if you're into OO (and in particular AOP), check out CLOS.

And this book is an excellent way to get acquainted with the features of CLOS. While the introduction suggests non-Lispniks can benefit from reading this book, I would strongly suggest you can read Lisp to make sure you understand what's going on. It's a quick read (about 220 pages, excluding the appendices), the language is unfussy and clear, and the concepts are simply explained.

The hoary old shape example is used briefly (perhaps it wasn't as tired in 1989), but the two main examples used in the book is a simple locking mechanism for concurrency, and multiple inheritance based disk and tape stream classes. Both example do the job well of highlighting the unique flavour of CLOS. The metaobject protocol is touched upon only briefly, but there's more than enough of the standard object protocol described for you to be getting your money's worth.

Other introductory books do cover CLOS (Practical Common Lisp has a good chapter), but this is a very nice standalone volume devoted to CLOS only. Well worth reading, object (and Lisp) fans.

This is a nice "tutorial style" walk through much of the functionality of CLOS.

It doesn't get into examples that are of _spectacular_ complexity, either in size or in difficulty of concept, but that strikes me as being just fine. The dialect of CLOS in use predates the final version that was released, so a few examples require a little modification to work with modern Lisp releases.

If you're looking to get into the sophistication of redefining your own metaobject protocols, the MOP book is surely more suitable. But for most of us who just need to figure out what CLOS is good for, this book provides a very nice presentation of that.

Sonya Keene is one of the very best technical writers in the entire computer industry, and she was one of the inner circle of experts who designed and standardized the Common Lisp Object System. This book is crystal clear, accurate, and comprehensive.

This is a great book. It shows everything about CLOS (except the metaobject protocol, which is just mentioned but not explained in detail). The explanations are very clear and the author does every possible thing to make you understand all details (a bit too much for me, but that's a matter of taste).

For anyone interested in OO programming in Common Lisp, this is an essential book.
Even if you are interested in OO programming in general, this book covers a different approach, so it is nice for a comparison (in CLOS, methods do not belong to classes, and there are lots of interesting tricks that you can do that are not possible in other languages).

Keene covers CLOS thoroughly and clearly. A classic. Can't say much else. If you care about your LISP programming craft, buy this book.

You are going to get precisely what is advertised: a good guide to object-oriented programming in Common Lisp, no less, no more.