Comment by 🦋 CarloMonte
Re: "Let Over Lambda by Doug Hoyte -- my favorite Lisp Book"
If "Let over Lambda" is mentioned here, than please add "The Art of Prolog" by Sterling and Shapiro. This is another mind-blowing approach to programming and together with LISP, C and something OO you have a pretty complete collection. The book is of course dated and out of print and in high demand = expensive.
2025-01-21 · 1 year ago
3 Later Comments ↓
🚀 stack [OP] · 2025-01-21 at 14:22:
Actually CL has the best object system, CLOS. It has multiple inheritance, generics, and can actually alter object composition and all live objects while executing code. Nothing comes close to CLOS.
That is why it's laughable when people say that Lisp sucks or that Rust or some other 2-year-old language is 'better'. Can you connect to a running application over SSH and recompile a single function or update your object schema? Or change the entire syntax of the language? It's not just baked into CL, it is structurally what Lisp is all about.
Prolog is definitely interesting, and there are some good implementations as Lisp DSLs. I think there is an implementation in Let Over Lamda.
🚀 stack [OP] · 2025-01-21 at 16:21:
Still fuming...
Speaking of 'too specialized' languages, there is nothing more openminded than CL. You can easily use it as a functional language if you choose to do so. It has the best object model for OOP people. It has a serious type system, which is invisible (inferred types) unless you feel like declaring and enforcing types. Or just write code however you feel like.
You can compile it or interpret it. You can take it as high or as low as you want, use it as an assembler or create meta-languages and DSL. It can parse itself. The macro system is Lisp itself. You can cons up code. You can adjust or replace its syntax. You can batch- compile files or use a REPL to individually compile functions.
You can even save your working image, and move it to another machine.
The only thing that surpasses Lisp is people's ignorance.
🦋 CarloMonte · 2025-01-21 at 16:35:
As Prolog-like languages written in LISP go, probably mini-Kanren ist the most interesting.
Original Post
Let Over Lambda by Doug Hoyte -- my favorite Lisp Book — This book has changed my brain. I cannot express how much joy I received from it. To be fair, you should work through 'On Lisp' by Paul Graham, as structurally Let Over Lambda starts with concepts where Graham left of and takes them to outer space. [https link] Available as a paperback-on-demand by author, or if you need a digital backup, look on Anna's archive.