Author: Peter Seibel
Genre: Non-Fiction (Computers)
I haven't actually finished this book yet, so I'm not sure it counts. However, since it is about learning to program in Lisp, it could take a significant amount of time to finish.
Weirdly I've had it in my mind for many years to go back and re-learn Lisp some time. At SFU, CMPT 201 was taught in Lisp, and it seemed neat somehow, but when the course ended, I went off and programmed VB, C++, C and Java instead.
Over the years I kept hearing about Lisp, about how it (like Smalltalk) was a kind of special language, years ahead of it's time. Of course, there are articles by Paul Graham, Eric Raymond and others about how effective and special Lisp is. However, nearly every programmer says that about the language they know. The Tibetan Buddhists call it self cherishing, the idea we each hold that we are a unique, special individual, and by extension the things we do and know are also unique and special.
However, it was really this article that convinced me to try a new language. And an impractical language at that. I mean, learning Groovy, Ruby, C# or VB would have potential benefits for my career. However, learning Lisp, that would be purely for fun.
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