DefinitiveCommonLispBooks

For starters:

• PracticalCommonLisp by PeterSeibel
• AnsiCommonLisp by PaulGraham
• Lisp, 3rd Edition by PatrickHenryWinston/Horn
• CommonLispaGentleIntroductionToSymbolicComputation by David S. Touretzky
• LandOfLisp by Conrad Barski, M.D.

More advanced texts:

• OnLisp by PaulGraham advanced, mind-bending chapters on macros; on Web
• ParadigmsOfArtificialIntelligenceProgramming (PAIP) by PeterNorvig is written with the viewpoint that to become a great programmer, one has to first ReadGreatPrograms (comparing programming to literature). A fine book. See: http://www.norvig.com/paip.html .
• CommonLispTheLanguage, 2nd edition (CLtL2) by GuySteele is not quite the official standard, but pretty close; it was written by a member of the standards committee partway through the standardisation process. Downloadable in various forms (even latex source) at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/project/ai-repository/ai/html/cltl/cltl2.html The differences between this book and the ANSI specs are listed at http://cbbrowne.com/info/commonlisp.html#AEN9751
• The language standard itself (X3.226-1994) makes a pretty good reference. The DeadTrees version costs real money, but the CommonLispHyperSpec is available at no cost on the web
• TheArtOfTheMetaObjectProtocol (AMOP) by GregorKiczales, Jim Des Rivieres and Daniel G. Bobrow (advanced, mind bending)
• Object-Oriented Programming in Common Lisp: A Programmer's Guide to CLOS by Sonya E. Keene

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The AssociationOfLispUsers maintains a list of lisp books at http://www.lisp.org/table/books.htm.

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Not a CommonLisp book, but a must read, is StructureAndInterpretationOfComputerPrograms.

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The Little Lisper, by Friedman and Felleisen, is an interesting Lisp book that could be considered a proto-patterns book. It's structured as a series of many small problem/solution pairs, each based in the context of earlier knowledge described in the book. Each chapter introduces an important programming principles and then explains it in terms of problem/solution pairs. -- NatPryce

[The most recent edition is now called TheLittleSchemer.]

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OnLisp is a fine book, but I read through it just once and then fired off an error report to its author. ParadigmsOfArtificialIntelligenceProgramming I keep coming back to; it's practically a comfort book to me. It deserves attention outside the Lisp world. -- DariusBacon

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CategoryDefinitiveBooks CategoryCommonLisp, CategoryBooks