On Thu, Dec 15, 2005 at 10:21:26AM -0600, Joshua Stone wrote: > On Dec 15, 2005, at 3:52 AM, Tim Cross wrote: > > > One of the most difficult problems I've encountered with lisp is in > > finding the appropriate function for doing some task. Many times I've > > looked for some functionality which I knew was likely to exist, but > > couldn't find the appropriate function. Some of this was due to not > > being familiar with lisp nameing conventions/style and part of it is > > due to the large number of functions available in CL. While the > > hyperspec is great once you know what your looking for, its not so > > good when you have an idea or know the general area, but not the > > name. I've often ended up re-inventing the wheel only to stumble > > across a built in function that does the same job. While this can be a > > good way to learn, it really slows down your development time and that > > can be somewhat discouraging at times. > > So are you suggesting something like an "idiomatic dictionary" for > Common Lisp? I.e., we all probably implemented a "sum" function before > we 'discovered' #'reduce, right (on a side-note, everyone always > complains about the semantic inaccessibility of CL function names, but > compare "reduce" to Ruby's "inject" -- crazy, huh?)? I like this idea, > if only because it seems to me that PCL is just about the only truly > practical approach to "how to do stuff" in Lisp (I'm sure I'm wrong, so > feel free to correct me -- I won't be surprised). > > If I recall correctly, Paul Graham does discuss some common idioms in > Common Lisp in "On Lisp", though it's really not the point of the book. > I have been quite embarrassed at times to show my code to other people > just to have them say, "Oh, you don't need that function..."
I think the the Common Lisp Cookbook [1] addresses this to some extent at least. Rather than duplicate that work, could we combine our efforts? Would the Cookbook and Gardeners admins be interested in integrating the sites and documentation? I'll say it again: one site, one look and feel, one navigation, one set of standards. -Mike [1] http://cl-cookbook.sourceforge.net/ -- Michael J. Forster Shared Logic Inc. _______________________________________________ Gardeners mailing list [email protected] http://www.lispniks.com/mailman/listinfo/gardeners
