From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Edward Dodge Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Writing an interactive function to accept a string argument, then call a Python script? Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 10:32:52 -0700 Organization: Qwest Communications Corporation Message-ID: References: <1171026496.713032.169290@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com> <1171105054.246773.140640@p10g2000cwp.googlegroups.com> <1171365681.355908.131220@k78g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1171474941 21676 80.91.229.12 (14 Feb 2007 17:42:21 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 17:42:21 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Feb 14 18:42:13 2007 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 1HHO8o-00017W-Oh for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 14 Feb 2007 18:42:03 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1HHO8o-0005KY-EI for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 14 Feb 2007 12:42:02 -0500 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!postnews.google.com!news3.google.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!nx01.iad01.newshosting.com!newshosting.com!feed.news.qwest.net!mpls-nntp-04.inet.qwest.net!news.qwest.net!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help User-Agent: Gnus/5.1002 (Gnus v5.10.2) Emacs/22.0.50 (darwin) Cancel-Lock: sha1:HwTnmA8dEF8U+9eXVKnRzowEc0Q= Original-Lines: 52 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: d62c7aed.news.qwest.net Original-X-Trace: DXC=@BnRkECm\062CP^m4A2]Y2F85SKJoGf>4d:9n5KjFiM44d 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:41208 Archived-At: > Meanwhile, since you're into lisp, I have a question for you: Would > there be any real advantage to my learning it, aside from > customizing Emacs beyond the things that other people have done that > I can find on the Web? My impression is that the answer is no. I can't speak for Mr. Rodgers, but I just started learning Lisp in earnest these past couple of months. And I find the study fascinating, and useful. Of course it helps that I use a CAD program at work with a Lisp dialect as its extension language. Without this excuse to learn Lisp, I'm not sure I be so studious, even though I also happen to be a die-hard Emacs-user. If you want to hear some interesting stories about how cool Lisp is and how useful it can be, I recommend a sampling of the entries at this site: http://wiki.alu.org/The_Road_to_Lisp_Survey Some of these stories helped me on my current path to learning Lisp by helping me to understand that it's okay to learn Lisp. True, it's not the acclaimed Language Du Jour, but it can still be an important and powerful skill in your programming/computing experience. If you want to see a good example of that in a man who is both a writer and a programmer, check out this blog: http://www.paulgraham.com/index.html > I'm really just a writer who stumbled into scripting by accident, > during a few years when I was documenting software as a technical > writer. I enjoy fiddling with code mostly to automate various things > I do with text processing. Python has been perfect for this purpose > - easy to learn, easy to put down and then pick up again every few > months as needed. I once thought about learning lisp - in fact I > went so far as to buy "The Little Schemer" - but in the end I > decided I could no more afford to take the time to learn it than I > could continue to learn C, which I once dabbled in briefly for fun. I tried "The Little Lisper" and found it helped clear up the concept of recursion. But what is really helping me stay focussed on learning the language as a practical matter is a book that is aptly titled "Practical Common Lisp" by Peter Seibel. The full text of the book is available for free online: http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/ I bought the dead-tree edition for reading and study away from the computer. -- Edward Dodge