While creativity plays an important role in the advancement of computer science, great ideas are built on a foundation of practical experience and knowledge. This book presents programming techniques which will be useful in both AI projects and more conventional software engineering endeavors. My primary goal is to enter tain, to introduce new technologies and to provide reusable software modules for the computer programmer who enjoys using programs as models for solutions to hard and interesting problems. If this book succeeds in entertaining, then it will certainly also educate. I selected the example application areas covered here for their difficulty and have provided both program examples for specific applications and (I hope) the method ology and spirit required to master problems for which there is no obvious solution. I developed the example programs on a Macintosh TM using the Macintosh Common LISP TM development system capturing screen images while the example programs were executing. To ensure portability to all Common LISP environments, I have provided a portable graphics library in Chapter 2. All programs in this book are copyrighted by Mark Watson. They can be freely used in any free or commercial software systems if the following notice appears in the fine print of the program's documentation: "This program contains software written by Mark Watson." No royalties are required. The program miniatures contained in this book may not be distributed by posting in source code form on public information networks, or in printed form without my written permission.

The defacto standard - a must-have for all LISP programmers. In this greatly expanded edition of the defacto standard, you'll learn about the nearly 200 changes already made since original publication - and find out about gray areas likely to be revised later. Written by the Vice- Chairman of X3J13 (the ANSI committee responsible for the standardization of Common Lisp) and co-developer of the language itself, the new edition contains the entire text of the first edition plus six completely new chapters. They cover: - CLOS, the Common Lisp Object System, with new features to support function overloading and object-oriented programming, plus complete technical specifications * Loops, a powerful control structure for multiple variables * Conditions, a generalization of the error signaling mechanism * Series and generators * Plus other subjects not part of the ANSI standards but of interest to professional programmers. Throughout, you'll find fresh examples, additional clarifications, warnings, and tips - all presented with the author's customary vigor and wit.

The defacto standard - a must-have for all LISP programmers. In this greatly expanded edition of the defacto standard, you'll learn about the nearly 200 changes already made since original publication - and find out about gray areas likely to be revised later. Written by the Vice- Chairman of X3J13 (the ANSI committee responsible for the standardization of Common Lisp) and co-developer of the language itself, the new edition contains the entire text of the first edition plus six completely new chapters. They cover: - CLOS, the Common Lisp Object System, with new features to support function overloading and object-oriented programming, plus complete technical specifications * Loops, a powerful control structure for multiple variables * Conditions, a generalization of the error signaling mechanism * Series and generators * Plus other subjects not part of the ANSI standards but of interest to professional programmers. Throughout, you'll find fresh examples, additional clarifications, warnings, and tips - all presented with the author's customary vigor and wit.

[The book] provides a balanced survey of the fundamentals of artificial intelligence, emphasizing the relationship between symbolic and numeric processing. The text is structured around an innovative, interactive combination of LISP programming and AI; it uses the constructs of the programming language to help readers understand the array of artificial intelligence concepts presented. After an overview of the field of artificial intelligence, the text presents the fundamentals of LISP, explaining the language's features in more detail than any other AI text. Common Lisp is then used consistently, in both programming exercises and plentiful examples of actual AI code.- Back cover This text is intended to provide an introduction to both AI and LISp for those having a background in computer science and mathematics. -Pref.

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.

This is the first complete and definitive reference to Common LISP, a popular computer language often used by artificial intelligence programmers. This is an alphabetical reference, which includes essays, and is for serious LISP programmers.

* Treats LISP as a language for commercial applications, not a language for academic AI concerns. This could be considered to be a secondary text for the Lisp course that most schools teach . This would appeal to students who sat through a LISP course in college without quite getting it – so a "nostalgia" approach, as in "wow-lisp can be practical..." * Discusses the Lisp programming model and environment. Contains an introduction to the language and gives a thorough overview of all of Common Lisp’s main features. * Designed for experienced programmers no matter what languages they may be coming from and written for a modern audience—programmers who are familiar with languages like Java, Python, and Perl. * Includes several examples of working code that actually does something useful like Web programming and database access.