dbd
June 4th, 2008, 09:54 PM
Hi,
I'm about to start learning lisp, and was wondering which variant to start with. I already know C++, and want to try out a language which encourages radically different ways of thinking about things, and lisp looks like it might me it.
I'm also currently just starting off learning emacs (I was a vi fan, but wanted to check out the competition), so at first it seemed sensible to learn emacs lisp first, but now I'm not so sure. I was reading the introduction to Practical Common Lisp, and that said:
Although it's possible more lines of Elisp and Autolisp have been written than of any other dialect of Lisp, neither can be used outside their host application, and both are quite old-fashioned Lisps compared to either Scheme or Common Lisp. If you've used one of these dialects, prepare to hop in the Lisp time machine and jump forward several decades.
If emacs lisp is so backwards and different, then maybe I should go straight for learning Common Lisp (using slime), and then go back to look at emacs lisp afterwards, if I get the urge to mod emacs. Or is the difference less significant than the book claims and therefore just learning emacs lisp first makes sense, seeing as I'll be using emacs?
Thanks
I'm about to start learning lisp, and was wondering which variant to start with. I already know C++, and want to try out a language which encourages radically different ways of thinking about things, and lisp looks like it might me it.
I'm also currently just starting off learning emacs (I was a vi fan, but wanted to check out the competition), so at first it seemed sensible to learn emacs lisp first, but now I'm not so sure. I was reading the introduction to Practical Common Lisp, and that said:
Although it's possible more lines of Elisp and Autolisp have been written than of any other dialect of Lisp, neither can be used outside their host application, and both are quite old-fashioned Lisps compared to either Scheme or Common Lisp. If you've used one of these dialects, prepare to hop in the Lisp time machine and jump forward several decades.
If emacs lisp is so backwards and different, then maybe I should go straight for learning Common Lisp (using slime), and then go back to look at emacs lisp afterwards, if I get the urge to mod emacs. Or is the difference less significant than the book claims and therefore just learning emacs lisp first makes sense, seeing as I'll be using emacs?
Thanks