What version of Lisp is running in EMACS?

What version of Lisp is running in EMACS?

[Daniel Klein]

I am a completely new EMACS user so please be gentle.

I need to get up to speed using Lisp (yes, I know this is not a Lisp
group).

I'm initially going to use EMACS for Lisp development and I need to
know what Lisp version is running in EMACS.

Sorry if this appears to be a 'dumb question'.

Daniel Klein

Re: What version of Lisp is running in EMACS?

[Harald Hanche-Olsen]

+ Daniel Klein <danielk@featherbrain.net>:

> I am a completely new EMACS user so please be gentle.
>
> I need to get up to speed using Lisp (yes, I know this is not a Lisp
> group).
>
> I'm initially going to use EMACS for Lisp development and I need to
> know what Lisp version is running in EMACS.

It's called Emacs lisp, or elisp among friends.  (Nobody capitalizes
emacs the way you did.  I notice you didn't write LISP.  Good!)

I am not so sure that elisp is the best to learn from, if your
longtime goal is to learn Common Lisp, say.  There's a risk that you
just end up learning elisp's idiosyncrasies instead.  Maybe you really
should get a Common Lisp system.  Perhaps SBCL.  There are also
commercial lisps out there with free trial versions that are quite
good.  If you for something like SBCL, you can run that under Slime
inside emacs.

Here is a good book if you wish to learn Common Lisp:

  http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/

On that page you will find a reference to Lispbox (gee, Lisp in a
box), which just may be what you need to get stared.

For more information on your options, search the comp.lang.lisp
newsgroup.  Questions about good systems for beginners come up
regularly there.  (But it's a high volume newsgroup, so you may need
to work a bit with your search terms to find the info.)

-- 
* Harald Hanche-Olsen     <URL:http://www.math.ntnu.no/~hanche/>
- It is undesirable to believe a proposition
  when there is no ground whatsoever for supposing it is true.
  -- Bertrand Russell

Re: What version of Lisp is running in EMACS?

[Daniel Klein]

On Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:38:14 +0200, Harald Hanche-Olsen
<hanche@math.ntnu.no> wrote:


>It's called Emacs lisp, or elisp among friends.  (Nobody capitalizes
>emacs the way you did.  I notice you didn't write LISP.  Good!)
>
>I am not so sure that elisp is the best to learn from, if your
>longtime goal is to learn Common Lisp, say.  There's a risk that you
>just end up learning elisp's idiosyncrasies instead.  Maybe you really
>should get a Common Lisp system.  Perhaps SBCL.  There are also
>commercial lisps out there with free trial versions that are quite
>good.  If you for something like SBCL, you can run that under Slime
>inside emacs.
>
>Here is a good book if you wish to learn Common Lisp:
>
>  http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/
>
>On that page you will find a reference to Lispbox (gee, Lisp in a
>box), which just may be what you need to get stared.
>
>For more information on your options, search the comp.lang.lisp
>newsgroup.  Questions about good systems for beginners come up
>regularly there.  (But it's a high volume newsgroup, so you may need
>to work a bit with your search terms to find the info.)

Ok, 'Emacs' it is from now on :)

I have just ordered Practical Common Lisp from Amazon.

Yes, I've been on comp.lang.lisp and found some very useful
information.

Thank you,

Daniel Klein

Re: What version of Lisp is running in EMACS?

[Xah Lee]

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On Oct 25, 6:11 pm, Daniel Klein <dani...@featherbrain.net> wrote:
«... I need to get up to speed using Lisp (yes, I know this is not a
Lisp group).  I'm initially going to use EMACS for Lisp development
and I need to know what Lisp version is running in EMACS.»

If you are a experienced programer, say, with at least 1 year full-
time programing experience, then you might try my tutorial

Emacs Lisp Tutorial by Example
http://xahlee.org/emacs/elisp.html

  Xah
  xah@xahlee.org
  http://xahlee.org/

Re: What version of Lisp is running in EMACS?

[Daniel Klein]

On Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:07:02 -0700, Xah Lee <xah@xahlee.org> wrote:

>If you are a experienced programer, say, with at least 1 year full-
>time programing experience, then you might try my tutorial
>
>Emacs Lisp Tutorial by Example
>http://xahlee.org/emacs/elisp.html

I'm looking at the tutorial now.

Can you explain how to 'run eval-region'?

Daniel Klein

Re: What version of Lisp is running in EMACS?

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 26.10.2007 um 15:04 schrieb Daniel Klein:

> Can you explain how to 'run eval-region'?

Mark (select, hi-light) the region of ELisp statements and enter M-x  
eval-region RET.

--
Mit friedvollen Grüßen

   Pete

Es geht nix über eine elektrische Klobürste!

Re: What version of Lisp is running in EMACS?

[Tim X]

Daniel Klein <danielk@featherbrain.net> writes:

> On Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:07:02 -0700, Xah Lee <xah@xahlee.org> wrote:
>
>>If you are a experienced programer, say, with at least 1 year full-
>>time programing experience, then you might try my tutorial
>>
>>Emacs Lisp Tutorial by Example
>>http://xahlee.org/emacs/elisp.html
>
> I'm looking at the tutorial now.
>

A much much better introduction to emacs lisp is Robert J Chassell's
"An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp", which is now bundled with
Emacs 22 or available from the GNU site. It has a much better structure,
is more consistent and well written and once combined with the Emacs Lisp Reference
(also bundled with Emacs 22) gives you everything you need. As an
additional benefit, it avoids the (often) ill informed pseudo political
rants Xah tends to pepper throughout much of his otherwise reasonable work
and information. 

However, if your ultimate plan is to learn Common Lisp, I would advise
against learning too much Emacs Lisp. While both languages are part of the
lisp family, there are considerable differences between them and these are
likely to cause confusion if your just beginning to learn one or the
other. 

While Emacs Lisp is almost essential if you want to become an 'Emacs power
user", many users find the editors features extremely useful and powerful
without ever having to learn emacs lisp. The combination of Emacs and SLIME
for a Common Lisp development environment is very powerful and initially is
easy to setup. The power of emacs means that you can make things as complex
and customized as you want, but don't be fooled. You don't need to go down
that road. You can get extremely powerful functionality with minimal
customization. A common mistake for new users is they feel they need to
start using the power of emacs lisp and start customizing everything right
away. Often, this is before they have used the system long enough to
appreciate why some settings are done the way they are or why some key
bindings seem 'unusual'. Once you have used the editor for some time, you
will find there is usually well thought out reasons why things have been
done/configured the way they have been. 


HTH

Tim

-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au