Lisp Propulsion Laboratory log

Paolo Amoroso's weblog. Main interests: Lisp, astronomy (Moon), space exploration (Apollo and early manned programs)

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The joy of reading Practical Common Lisp for the first time

Sunday, April 24, 2005

To Lispers, the newly published book by Peter Seibel Practical Common Lisp is hardly news. Peter has been making available drafts online for over a year. I have always been aware of this, yet I am reading the book now for the first time, after my printed copy arrived from Amazon a few days ago.

A couple of years ago, if I recall correctly, Peter announced he was going to write a new Lisp book, which would eventually be published by Apress. Some time later he began making available online drafts of new chapters as he finished them, and asked for feedback in comp.lang.lisp.

Back then, this was the first new Lisp book in years, and it looked like it would be a great one. At first I was tempted to read it online but, since I wanted to buy a printed copy (I preordered it in August 2004), this would have spoiled much of the fun for me.

Peter was getting extensive and good feedback anyway, so my comments would not have been a major contribution. And back then I accessed the Internet via a dial-up modem connection, which didn't help online reading. So, I finally decided to wait for the printed book.

It was a difficult decision. People kept praising and recommending the book, and it was hard to resist the temptation of reading it online.

My printed copy of Practical Common Lisp arrived from Amazon a few days ago, and the wait is finally over. I am now enjoying a new Lisp book. Although I closely followed Peter's progress in comp.lang.lisp, almost everything in the book is new and exciting for me.

Thanks, Peter. Looking forward to the next Apress Lisp book, The ANSI Common Lisp Reference Book, scheduled for publication around July 2005.