1 comments about LISP-STAT: An Object-Oriented Environment for Statistical Computing and Dynamic Graphics (Wiley Series in Probability and Statistics).

1. Lisp Stat is the definitive reference on Tierney's xlisp-stat. It is certainly not to be used as a complete lisp reference or tutorial for xlisp-stat programming, it provides a reference of the functions that Tierney has put on top of lisp for xlisp-stat programming and provides enough rudimentary lisp examples and parameters to allow simple programming. It is perhaps more than adequate for those seeking to add basic features to an existing program through an xlisp-stat application programming interface or statisticians seeking to exploit the language's powerful matrix manipulation abilities.

1 comments about Inside Case-Based Reasoning.

1. To get core information of case-based reasoning, please try earlier to read this book. The principles of CBR are introduced detailedly and the application of CBR are also transfer from the author to his readers.

No comments about Symbolic Computing With Lisp/Book & Disk.

4 comments about Maximizing Autolisp/Book and Disk.

1. This book provided tools for me to reason and develope my own applications. Fantastically written. A must for any serious user



2. inside AUTOLISP first edition 1989 Dear Authors, I would like to order the lastest book that you wrote, Please contact me as soon as you can. Thank you



3. Too bad this book is out of print. I was impressed by the content, the ease of looking items up, and the examples. I wish the book had been updated for Rev. 13 of AutoCad. If you have Amazon try and locate a copy for you and they find one, consider yourself a luck programmer.



4. I did not need any other book on AutoLISP programming - This book went with me anywhere I did - the toilet , my bed , my computer desk. It DID NOT teach DCL programming so I bought another (by Christian Immler). If you want to see what I used AutoLISP for - check the website mentioned below. If you can get the book it - DO IT ...

No comments about Programming in Common Lisp.

No comments about Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence - Lisp.

1 comments about Understanding Autolisp: Programming for Productivity.

1. It seems very intuitive and provides a serious look at productivity.

2 comments about AutoCAD Developer's Guide to Visual LISP.

1. I suppose if you have a Ph.D, you are expected to write at least one text book to add to your portfolio and make a few bucks on the side - that kind of mentality was painfully prevalent when the author wrote this book. Dry text and sparse examples litter the text. The book title is misleading - it calls itself a 'developer's guide to visual lisp' when in fact, 36 pages (less than 10% of the book) is dedicated to that topic. Almost 200 pages of the book goes over the main AutoLisp functions - but hey, I've got an AutoCAD 14 book that explains that topic better. The book describes the author as a 'best selling author of a number of AutoCAD books'. If thats true, those books never made it to the North American market - now I know why. And finally, WHERE'S THE CD? No CD ever came with my copy of the book - maybe because I purchased an earlier printing. All in all, a major disappointment.



2. I suppose if you have a Ph.D, you are expected to write at least one text book to add to your portfolio and make a few bucks on the side - that kind of mentality was obviously prevalent when the author wrote this book. Dry text and sparse examples litter the text. The book title is misleading - it calls itself a 'developer's guide to visual lisp' when in fact, 36 pages (less than 10% of the book) is dedicated to that topic. Almost 200 pages of the book goes over the main AutoLisp functions - but hey, I've got an AutoCAD 14 book that explains that topic better. The books describes the author as a 'best selling author of a number of AutoCAD books'. If thats true, those books never made it to the North American market - now I know why. And finally, WHERE'S THE CD? No CD ever came with my copy of the book - maybe because I purchased an earlier printing. All in all, a major disappointment.

1 comments about LISP Lore: A Guide to Programming the LISP Machine.

1. Symbolics Lisp Machines running Genera have possibly the most complete online manuals of any operating system ever made. They are excruciatingly detailed, erudite, exact, and best of all are completely searchable and browsable. So one may ask why a Lisp Machine user might ever need a book outside of the Document Examiner? Well, despite the vast amount of documentation and the fantastic interactive searching and browsing capabilities of the online documentation, a new user can barely hope to learn anything from them because they are entirely too detailed and complex. Symbolics helpfully provides some simplistic teaching manuals but it's often very difficult to keep switching back and forth between DocEx and the Dynamic Lisp Listener or Zmacs. There's also a fairly large gap between the exercises provided in the Genera docs for a new user to become familiar with the system, and for a programmer to start writing new software. That's where this book comes in.

   Although the book was originally written for Genera 7 it is still in most ways very up to date. It provides simple examples of using the Genera system, and how to get around in the network. More importantly it provides lots of information and examples of writing both simple and complex software for Genera. Toy programs are given, along with intricate programs using most of the advanced features of the Genera environment. One of the more entertaining examples is a Solitaire program. Exercises are given at the end of each chapter, and every exercise is well tuned to the expected knowledge of the reader as they progress through the chapters.

   The only drawback of the book is that it is somewhat out of date. Instead of object-oriented programming with CLOS, available in Genera 8, the book gives examples in New Flavors, which was superseded by CLOS but is still heavily used in the internals of Genera. New Flavors is however a generic function style of OO programming, which isn't too far from that of CLOS, although the message passing paradigm of Old Flavors is still evident. Other advanced features of Genera only available in the more modern releases of this decade are uncovered in this book as well.

   All in all, a fantastic book for anyone who works with Symbolics Lisp Machines to have around. Unquestionably the ideal book to learn the system from and to learn the feel of programming in Genera. Users of other flavors of Lisp Machines may also find it helpful, although the book is unashamedly biased towards Symbolics systems.

1 comments about Common Lisp: An Interactive Approach (Principles of Computer Science Series).

1. Let me begin with some compliments. The author's treatment of packages, always a tricky concept for LISPers, is superior. Shapiro introduces them early, and applies them consistently throughout the rest of the book. Another plus is his conversational tone that makes the book easy to follow. Most of his explanations seem accurate.

   Now the bad news: there are many details introduced early while basic concepts are pushed way far back in the book. While the author is entitled to his own opinion about what's important, there are a couple of issues that are particularly bothersome. The let statement is not introduced until chapter 27, but gensym, a much more advanced topic is introduced earlier. There seems to be no mention that the eval command is not in wide usage and should be used sparingly.

   Also, the reader does not come away with any notion of what is acceptable programming style. Sure, people have differences, but that doesn't give the author the right to shy away from this issue.

   Despite the clarity of Shapiro's prose, Common Lisp: An Interactive Guide does not communicate what makes LISP special, nor with a sense of the range of programs that can be written with LISP. It might have been better to take a project oriented approach from the beginning, introducing concepts as necessary. The rest could be looked up in a reference manual.

   If you are a first time programmer with no knowledge of LISP, Winston & Horn, LISP 3d edition brings you up to speed faster. If you know another programming language already, Koschmann "A Lisp Companion" is a wonderful choice. Both these books address beginners concerns, but also show the reader the bigger picture than does Shapiro.

   In short: there is too much emphasis on detail, and not enough perspective. With the publishing of ANSI Common LISP, which serves as both a reference and a crash course, there is no reason to buy this book. However, I would give this author a second look in another book - he is clearly an accomplished educator and communicator, even though his efforts in this instance were misdirected.