Lisp in Small Pieces

by Christian Queinnec (Author), Kathleen Callaway (Translator)

12 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0521545662

ISBN-10: 0521545668

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This is a comprehensive account of the semantics and the implementation of the whole Lisp family of languages, namely Lisp, Scheme and related dialects. It describes 11 interpreters and 2 compilers, including very recent techniques of interpretation and compilation. The book is in two parts. The first starts from a simple evaluation function and enriches it with multiple name spaces, continuations and side-effects with commented variants, while at the same time the language used to define these features is reduced to a simple lambda-calculus. Denotational semantics is then naturally introduced. The second part focuses more on implementation techniques and discusses precompilation for fast interpretation: threaded code or bytecode; compilation towards C. Some extensions are also described such as dynamic evaluation, reflection, macros and objects. This will become the new standard reference for people wanting to know more about the Lisp family of languages: how they work, how they are implemented, what their variants are and why such variants exist. The full code is supplied (and also available over the Net). A large bibliography is given as well as a considerable number of exercises. Thus it may also be used by students to accompany second courses on Lisp or Scheme.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a good, solid book. The writing is subtle, but clear. It is certainly worth reading for anyone..." C.M. Holt, Computing Reviews

Book Description

This is a comprehensive account of the semantics and the implementation of the whole Lisp family of languages, namely Lisp, Scheme and related dialects. This will become the new standard reference for people wanting to know more about the Lisp family of languages: how they work, how they are implemented, what their variants are and why such variants exist. The full code is supplied (and also available over the Net).

Paperback: 536 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (December 4, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0521545668
ISBN-13: 978-0521545662
Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 1.1 x 9.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 12 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,424,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #73 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > Lisp
- #1448 in Books > Textbooks > Computer Science > Software Design & Engineering
- #3331 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > Software Development

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Nathan Slaughter

It doesn't get better than this if you're interested in Lisp and/or language ...

October 16, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

It doesn't get better than this if you're interested in Lisp and/or language implementation. You can read this book on a few different levels and get plenty of mileage. First of all, you can look through the features implemented, which are generally progressive in terms of complexity and implementation, and go straight to the topic that interests you the most.

I would caution you that this shouldn't be a first book on language implementation. I couldn't enumerate off hand, all of the documents that I've read on the topic - including quite a few that were Lisp specific - and I'd rank this one pretty in terms of difficulty. But the great thing is that the author is methodical about incrementally introducing and explaining the features. That still requires a lot of rumination from me to build the necessary framework inside of my skull.

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JohnDiego

I can only add a few things to the excellent reviews

October 2, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

See the other reviews for contents on the content. This is an outstanding book.

This book is an exact copy of the hardback, although the number of pages differs. Amazon is now counting the sides of all pages in the PDF/physical book, which isn't the way pages in books are usually counted.

There is a second edition of this book published January 2007, but it is only avaiable in French, published by Paracamplus and available from lmet.fr. They seem to be the only distributor.

Auteur(s) : QUEINNEC
Editeur : PARACAMPLUS
Parution : 01/2007
Langue : Francais
Nbre de pages : 484
ISBN : 9782916466033
Reliure : Paperback
Prix : 38.00 ttc
Disponibilité : En stock. Livraison sous 24h

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Cecil McGregor

Books don't cost, they provide

March 3, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I love lisp. This book provides even more wetware for my enthusiasm for this niche language.
While this book may seem expensive, absorbing even a portion will improve you coding techniques.

Good book, good price, seller is A++++++++++

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W. Ghost

Great book on implementing Lisp-like languages

December 1, 2007

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book is excellent. It is clear but not superficial at all.

Queinnec explains from the basics of Lisp implementation (evaluation of S-expressions) to techniques for compiling into C. You will find very good advice on how to implement macros, continuations and higher-order functions. If you want to implement Lisp, Scheme or any other language actually, buy this book!

Besides being an excellent technical text, the book is also a great pleasure to read, because of Queinnec's writing style.

Also, there are exercises -- with answers! :-)

11 people found this helpful

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angela m smith

Epic. Excellent.

May 4, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book is right up there with SICP and LoL. If you are serious about understanding how Lisp works and why it works that way then this book is one of the best.

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Blue Fox dude

Expensive - gradual student level

July 9, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Pretty much the only book on how to write a Lisp / Scheme VM - saves months of trolling through online boards...

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Yuri Pablob

Excellent book

December 6, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I don't have much experience with LISP and Scheme, but
I enjoy reading that book because the author gives a deep
insight into the inner workings and structure of compilers/
interpreters for the whole family of LISP languages and beyond.
It's a hard read (at least for me) - mostly because it contains
too much information and you need to follow the code sections
on almost every page (written in Scheme), but it deserves every
hour you'll dedicate to reading it.

5 people found this helpful

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How to implement LISP/Scheme language features and an intro to a compiler

February 13, 2010

Format: Paperback

This book is fantastic for filling the gap between a SICP-level understanding of how to write a Scheme (or LISP) compiler and actually getting the full language together. You know all of those "almost full R5RS" Scheme-to-{Java,.NET,JS} compilers? This book would help those authors fill in the last few pieces and actually implement the whole language.

Where this book falls short is as it approaches final code generation --- after you've generated the first working intermediate representation and want to start producing code you'd actually want to compiler. I recommend Appel's first book (Compiling with Continuations) for some tips on the basic optimization phases required in a functional compiler.

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Most recent customer reviews

H. Fieres

Lisp in small pieces

Nikoluas Wirth once said "language design is compiler design". This book is truly remarkable in providing a look behind the (LISP ) scenery.Read more

Published on February 7, 2008

Ronald Schröder

The future history of programming

I'm not a professional reviewer. But I program a lot, and for a living. After more than 15 years of experience in algorithm development and user interface design, to name some...Read more

Published on December 17, 2005

Peter Norvig

The best book available on Lisp implementation

This is an excellent book on Lisp implementation. You'll get a lot out of it, whether you are interested in writing compilers and interpreters (for Lisp or any language) or...Read more

Published on December 22, 1999

Ray Dillinger

Good book on functional languages.

This is the English Translation of a book originally published in French, under the title _Les_Langages_Lisp_.Read more

Published on November 28, 1999

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