Land of Lisp: Learn to Program in Lisp, One Game at a Time!
- 7h 2m
- Conrad Barski
- No Starch Press
- 2011
Lisp has been hailed as the world's most powerful programming language, but its cryptic syntax and academic reputation can be enough to scare off even experienced programmers. Those dark days are finally over—Land of Lisp brings the power of functional programming to the people!
With his brilliantly quirky comics and out-of-this-world games, longtime Lisper Conrad Barski teaches you the mysteries of Common Lisp. You'll start with the basics, like list manipulation, I/O, and recursion, then move on to more complex topics like macros, higher order programming, and domain-specific languages. Then, when your brain overheats, you can kick back with an action-packed comic book interlude!
Along the way you'll create (and play) games like Wizard Adventure, a text adventure with a whiskey-soaked twist, and Grand Theft Wumpus, the most violent version of Hunt the Wumpus the world has ever seen.
You'll learn to:
- Master the quirks of Lisp's syntax and semantics
- Write concise and elegant functional programs
- Use macros, create domain-specific languages, and learn other advanced Lisp techniques
- Create your own web server, and use it to play browser-based games
- Put your Lisp skills to the test by writing brain-melting games like Dice of Doom and Orc Battle
With Land of Lisp, the power of functional programming is yours to wield.
About the Author
Conrad Barski has an M.D. from the University of Miami, and nearly 20 years of programming experience. This includes a stint developing an obscure Atari Jaguar game, and working on many medical software projects. Barski is also an avid cartoonist, having created the popular alien Lisp mascot and many graphical tutorials. He currently develops cardiology software and lives in Washington, D.C.
In this Book
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Land of Lisp—Learn to Program in Lisp, One Game at a Time!
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Getting Started with Lisp
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Creating Your First Lisp Program
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Exploring the Syntax of Lisp Code
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Making Decisions with Conditions
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Building a Text Game Engine
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Interacting with the World: Reading and Printing in Lisp
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lambda: A Function So Important It Deserves Its Own Chapter
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Going Beyond Basic Lists
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This Ain't Your Daddy's Wumpus
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Advanced Datatypes and Generic Programming
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Looping with the loop Command
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Printing Text with the format Function
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Working with Streams
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Let's Create a Web Server!
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Functional Programming Is Beautiful
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Ramping Lisp Up a Notch with Functional Programming
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Dice of Doom, a Game Written in the Functional Style
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The Magic of Lisp Macros
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Domain-Specific Languages
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Lazy Programming
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Creating a Graphical, Web-Based Version of Dice of Doom
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Making Dice of Doom More Fun
