From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Drew Adams" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: RE: learning Emacs Lisp Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:48:04 -0800 Message-ID: <001301c9436d$3f7eca60$c2b22382@us.oracle.com> References: <87k5bbjzvo.fsf@thinkpad.tsdh.de> <87ljvre67v.fsf@thinkpad.tsdh.de> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1226346525 11905 80.91.229.12 (10 Nov 2008 19:48:45 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:48:45 +0000 (UTC) To: "'Tassilo Horn'" , Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Nov 10 20:49:46 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1Kzclb-0005Y1-HS for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:49:43 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:55435 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KzckQ-0007yB-Do for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:48:30 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1Kzck8-0007y6-0j for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:48:12 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1Kzck5-0007xi-HD for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:48:10 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=55480 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Kzck5-0007xf-Bu for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:48:09 -0500 Original-Received: from rcsinet11.oracle.com ([148.87.113.123]:58884 helo=rgminet11.oracle.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1Kzck4-00045p-TM for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:48:09 -0500 Original-Received: from rgminet15.oracle.com (rcsinet15.oracle.com [148.87.113.117]) by rgminet11.oracle.com (Switch-3.3.1/Switch-3.3.1) with ESMTP id mAAJmYre027063 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:48:35 GMT Original-Received: from acsmt704.oracle.com (acsmt704.oracle.com [141.146.40.82]) by rgminet15.oracle.com (Switch-3.3.1/Switch-3.3.1) with ESMTP id mAAJm6xp032094; Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:48:08 GMT Original-Received: from dradamslap1 (/130.35.178.194) by default (Oracle Beehive Gateway v4.0) with ESMTP ; Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:48:02 +0000 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 11 In-Reply-To: <87ljvre67v.fsf@thinkpad.tsdh.de> Thread-Index: AclDafUhYcaMIjgpQt+lXIKZqfkYJQAALI3Q X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3350 X-Source-IP: acsmt704.oracle.com [141.146.40.82] X-Auth-Type: Internal IP X-CT-RefId: str=0001.0A090208.49188FF4.022D:SCFSTAT928724,ss=1,fgs=0 X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 1) X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:59626 Archived-At: > The best resources for elisp are > (info "(eintr)Top") and (info "(elisp)Top") > together with the online help (`C-h ?'). Yes! Here's something to keep in mind. Lisp is a bit peculiar wrt things such as data structures and variables. Do yourself a favor and learn about things such as lists (list structure) and symbols from the above-mentioned sources or from other texts specifically about Lisp. Do not try to learn about such things from loose analogies with other languages, especially from writers who might not be all that Lispian. I'm not trying to denigrate any given text that tries to help you learn. I'm just saying beware of being misled by writings that tell you that symbols are variables or are like variables, or that Lisp passes arguments by value or reference or whatever - and so forth. Learn Lisp as Lisp, not wearing C or Java or Haskell glasses. Learn about symbols and conses and quote. Then go forth and cons. The Emacs-Lisp Intro mentioned above is definitely the place to start, as well as the first few chapters of the Elisp manual. Any book about Lisp is also bound to help, in spite of the fact that each Lisp dialect is a bit different. What's important is to grasp the basics of Lisp itself.