lisp-notes

The example you shared is also very well done. However in defense of the main book of this thread - the style of its formatting I think is well suited for web developers and the like, having less information on the page makes the problem a bit less daunting for beginner readers. It also increases the page count, which is a good marketing strategy for the publisher. I think most ebooks in general, particularly in web dev space, are void of quality content; so while I completely understand and see your perspective, I think in the context of what is out there, this book is a good effort. I personally would also write a more condensed guide (actually I did :D see here: https://github.com/ashok-khanna/common-lisp-by-example), but that’s just you and me having similar style choices :) I need to copy that springer style, it’s beautiful too!

I prefer the syntax of CL over Scheme, but the latter is definitely a wonderful language and goes hand in hand with the wizard book, SICP. At the end of the day, language choice, much like choice of editors or mechanical keyboards, is not that important — what is important is actually coding and building useful software. This can be done in any language, although I do not want to sound ignorant, as certain languages are better suited for certain tasks (eg swift for iOS dev). As a Mac/Windows user, I’d be keen to know how popular Guile is for GNU Projects? For those who want to learn Common Lisp quickly, this is a great guide: https://github.com/ashok-khanna/common-lisp-by-example