LISP Primer

copyright 1996-2001

• Preface and Terms of Use
• LISt Processing
  • Background and Getting Started
  • Basic Data Types
    • Atoms
    • Lists
  • Some Primitive Functions
    • Constructors: Cons, List, and Append
    • Quote
    • Selectors: First and Rest
  • Changing Variable Values
  • More Functions and Predicates
  • Setf
  • Exercises
• Defining LISP functions
  • Defining Functions: Defun
  • Local and Global Variables
  • Using an Editor
  • Using Your Own Definitions in New Functions
  • Functions with Extended Bodies
  • Conditional Control
    • If
    • Cond
  • More Predicates and Functions
    • Equality Predicates
    • Checking for NIL
    • Logical Operators: And and Or
  • Exercises
• Recursion and Iteration
  • Recursive Definitions
    • A Simple Example
    • Using Trace To Watch Recursion
    • Another Example
  • Iteration Using Dotimes
  • Local Variables Using Let
  • Iteration Using Dolist
  • When To Use Recursion/When To Use Iteration
  • Tail Recursion
  • Timing Function Calls
  • Exercises
• Programming Techniques
  • A Word about LISP
  • Recursion on Simple Lists
  • Recursion on Nested Lists and Expressions
  • Recursion on Numbers
  • Ensuring Proper Termination
  • Abstraction
  • Summary of Rules
  • Exercises
• Simple Data Structures in LISP
  • Association Lists
  • Property Lists
  • Arrays, Vectors, and Strings
    • Arrays and Vectors
    • Strings
  • Defstruct
  • Exercises.
• Input and Output
  • Basic Printing
  • Nicer Output Using Format
  • Reading
  • Input and Output to Files
  • Converting Strings to Lists
• Functions, Lambda Expressions, and Macros
  • Eval
  • Lambda Expressions
  • Funcall
  • Apply
  • Mapcar
  • Backquote and Commas
  • Defmacro
• Appendix: Selected LISP primitives
  • * (FUNCTION)
  • + (FUNCTION)
  • - (FUNCTION)
  • 1+, 1- (FUNCTIONS)
  • = (PREDICATE)
  • <, >, <=, >= (PREDICATES)
  • and (MACRO)
  • append (FUNCTION)
  • apply (FUNCTION)
  • atom (PREDICATE)
  • butlast (FUNCTION)
  • car (FUNCTION)
  • caar, cadr, cdar, cddr, etc. (FUNCTIONS)
  • cdr (Function)
  • cond (MACRO)
  • cons (FUNTION)
  • defun (MACRO)
  • do (SPECIAL FORM)
  • documentation (FUNCTION)
  • eql (PREDICATE)
  • eval (FUNCTION)
  • evenp, oddp (PREDICATES)
  • first (FUNCTION)
  • if (SPECIAL FORM)
  • length (FUNCTION)
  • let (SPECIAL FORM)
  • list (FUNCTION)
  • listp (PREDICATE)
  • mapcar (FUNCTION)
  • max, min (FUNCTIONS)
  • member (FUNCTION)
  • not (PREDICATE)
  • nth (FUNCTION)
  • nthcdr (FUNCTION)
  • null (PREDICATE)
  • numberp (PREDICATE)
  • or (MACRO)
  • read (FUNCTION)
  • reverse (FUNCTION)
  • second, third, etc. (FUNCTIONS)
  • setf (MACRO)
  • symbolp (PREDICATE)
  • y-or-n-p, yes-or-no-p (PREDICATES)
• About this document ...