The focus of this guide is on the programming language known as Common Lisp, a dialect of Lisp, which is the second-oldest high-level programming language still in wide use today.
Lisp was designed in 1958, shortly after Fortran. By 1980, there were several dialects of Lisp, and projects working on developing others.
Work on what was to become Common Lisp began in 1981 as an initiative by ARPA to create a single community standard dialect of Lisp, and it was previewed at the 1982 ACM Symposium on LISP. Its first language documentation was published as Common Lisp the Language in 1984. The final ANSI Common Lisp standard was published the ANSI X3J13 committee in 1994, and there have been no updates to the standard since that time, although various extensions and improvements have been developed.
Common Lisp is a general-purpose, multi-paradigm programming language. It includes the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS), which is the facility for object-oriented programming. Common Lisp provides some backward compatibility to Maclisp and to the original Lisp, which allows older Lisp software to be ported to Common Lisp. It is extensible through Lisp macros and reader macros.
Common Lisp is machine-independent. It uses iterative design methodology. It allows for dynamic program updates, and an advanced object-oriented programming., as well as an object-oriented condition system. It includes a convenient macro system, and a wide range of data types, such as objects, structures, lists, vectors, adjustable arrays, hashtables, and symbols. It is expression-based and includes a complete I/O library. It features an excellent debugging system, and extensive control structures.
Several proprietary and open-source dialects and implementations of Common Lisp have been created, and are in active development.
Topics related to Common Lisp are the focus of sites listed in this category. These might include the various dialects and implementations of the language, as well as editors, tutorials, help files, and other sites related to Common Lisp.
Dialects include Allegro Common Lisp (Allegro CL), Armed Bear Common Lisp (ABCL), Austin Kyoto Common Lisp (AKCL), Butterfly Common Lisp (BCL), CLISP, Clozure Common Lisp (CCL), CMU Common Lisp, Corman Lisp, Embeddable Common Lisp (ECL), GNU Common Lisp (GCL), Golden Common Lisp (GCL), Ibuki Common Lisp (ICL), Kyoto Common Lisp (KCL), Liquid Common Lisp, LispWorks, Macintosh Common Lisp (MCL), ManKai Common Lisp (MKCL), mocl, Movitz, Open Genera, Poplog, Scieneer Common Lisp, Steel Bank Common Lisp (SBCL), Ufasoft Common Lisp, and Vax Common Lisp (VCL). This is likely not a complete list, and some of these are no longer in development.
When there are enough listed sites to warrant such, some of these dialects and implementations will be sorted into their own category.
Recommended Resources
Developed by Franz Inc., Allegro Common Lisp is a programming language with an integrated development environment (IDE), and a commercial dialect of the Lisp programming language. Allegro CL provides the full ANSI Common Lisp standard, with several extensions. Originally known as Extended Common Lisp, it is available for several operating systems. Product packages and licensing options are put forth, along with other software developed by Franz Inc.
https://franz.com/
ABCL is a full implementation of the Common Lisp programming language that runs on a Java Virtual Machine, and includes a compiler to Java byte code, allowing access to Java libraries from CL. Originally a scripting language for the J editor, it now supports JSR-223, a Java scripting API. Released under the GNU General Public License with Classpath exception, it may be freely downloaded, with the source. System requirements and documentation are included.
https://www.abcl.org/
Maintained by Paul Nathan, the site is intended to be of assistance to programmers using Common Lisp, including the use of Emacs, putting together ASDF libraries, and selecting a Lisp implementation to use, including the pros and cons of several available implementations. Instructions for setting up an implementation, setting up Quickslip, and writing some Lisp code are posted, along with a new project tutorial. An introduction to Trotter, an example web spider, is included.
http://articulate-lisp.com/
Released in 1987, CLISP is an implementation of the programming language, Common Lisp, which now supports the Unix and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Written in C and Common Lisp, it includes an interpreter, a byte-code compiler, debugger, socket interface, high-level foreign language interface, internationalization support, and two object systems: Common Lisp Object System (CLOS) and MetaObject Protocol (MOP). Hosted by SourceForge, it may be freely downloaded.
https://clisp.sourceforge.io/
Developed at Carnegie Mellon University, CMUCL is a free implementation of the Common Lisp programming language. It runs on most Unix-like platforms, including Linux and BSD. Released in 1980, CMUCL actually predates Common Lisp, and was part of Spice Lisp, but was rewritten in 1985 to implement many of the functions of Common Lisp. When CMU discontinued development of CMUCL, it was taken over by a group of volunteers, and is in the public domain.
https://www.cons.org/cmucl/
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International License, the site offers project hosting for open source and free software Common Lisp projects, as well as mailing lists for projects related to Common Lisp, the programmable programming language. Portacle, an all-in-one Common Lisp, may be downloaded from the site, and links to other Lisp dialects are included. Viewers may also try Lisp online, view introductory videos, or join a community forum.
https://www.common-lisp.net/
Hosted by Github, The Common Lisp Cookbook is a collaborative project that seeks to provide for Common Lisp something similar to the Perl Cookbook, published by O’Reilly. Programmers with expertise in Common Lisp are invited to contribute to the site, which includes all manner of information about the programming language, in particular, a guide to learning to program, which is divided into several chapters. Links to other Common Lisp resources are also posted.
https://lispcookbook.github.io/cl-cookbook/
The Common Lisp Foundation hosts meetings and other events for users of the Common Lisp programming language, as well as providing hosting for projects and user groups related to the language, and managing donations for Common Lisp related community projects. The Foundation also administers the common-lisp.net website and associated services. Its board, contacts, and its collection of contributions and payment disbursement policies are set forth.
https://www.cl-foundation.org/
Highlighting the Common Lisp programming language, the site discusses the advantages of the language, being object-oriented and functional, comparing the speed of programs created with Common Lisp versus Ruby or Node. SLIME, an IDE that combines the power of Common Lisp and the extensibility of Emacs is also featured, along with a download link. Other resources include specifications, a style guide, tutorials, community forums, and success stories.
https://lisp-lang.org/
Prepared by Bert Burgemeister, the Common Lisp Quick Reference is a free booklet with brief descriptions of the symbols defined in the ANSI standard, including a comprehensive index. The author’s goal was to offer a quick overview of salient points that could be printed out on A4 and letter paper, along with its source, then folded lengthwise to form a handy booklet. It may be downloaded from the site, and instructions for printing and bookbinding of the document are included.
http://clqr.boundp.org/
Focused on the Common Lisp programming language, the comprehensive tutorial includes getting started with Common Lisp, an overview of ANSI Common Lisp, the language standard, and its documentation. Basic loops, Booleans, CLOS, cons cells and lists, control structures, customization, equality and other comparison predicates, and so on. Links to other online resources are included, along with sample code, including the code necessary to create a simple program.
https://common-lisp.programmingpedia.net/
Developed as Corman Common Lisp by Corman Technologies in 1995, Corman Lisp was a commercial implementation of the Common Lisp programming language, with support for the Microsoft Windows platform. Previously, Corman had developed PowerLisp for the Mac. In 2013, Corman decided to release it as open-source and, in 2015, he released the source code to the Corman Lisp GitHub repository under the MIT license. Any future development is done from GitHub.
https://github.com/slahn/cormanlisp
GCL is an ANSI Common Lisp compiler from the GNU Project, which produces native object code by first generating C code, then calling a C compiler. It will run under eleven Linux architectures, as well as Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, and Solaris. A history of the project is put forth, along with the features of GCL, development notes, The latest release may be downloaded from the site, along with its source, documentation, and other needed files.
https://www.gnu.org/software/gcl/
Using comics and games, Conrad Barski teaches Common Lisp, beginning with the basics, such as list manipulation, I/O, and recursion, then moving on to more complex topics like macros, higher-order manipulation, and domain-specific languages. Along the way, the author leads the reader through the tasks of creating and playing text adventure games. A sample chapter, code examples, and the source code are available, as well as a discussion forum.
http://www.landoflisp.com/
Developed by Harlequin, a UK software company, in 1989, LispWorks is a proprietary integrated development environment (IDE) for Common Lisp. Its Lisp division eventually became its own division and is now operating as LispWorks Ltd. The most recent version of LispWorks may be purchased from the site, along with the company’s other, mostly related, software products. Success stories are posted to the site, along with documentation, and its support services.
http://www.lispworks.com/
Hosted on the Google Code archive, MCL is available under the GNU Lesser GPL and may be freely downloaded, along with the source code. Development notes, issues, and credits are included. Initially released in 1984, versions after 5.1 are open-source, while version 5.1 and earlier versions are proprietary. It has been known by a number of names, including Coral Common Lisp, Macintosh Allegro Common Lisp, Apple Macintosh Common Lisp, and Digitool Macintosh Common Lisp.
https://code.google.com/archive/p/mcl/
Available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, Portacle is a complete IDE for Common Lisp that can be moved from one device to another on a USB stick. As it does not require a complicated installation process, it is easy to set up and run. Included in Portacle is a flexible editor known as Emacs, as well as SBCL, a Lisp implementation, Quickslip, a standard Lisp manager, and a version control system known as Git. An installation guide for Windows, Mac, and Linux is published to the site.
https://portacle.github.io/
Written by Peter Seibel and published by Apress, the full text of the published book may be viewed online, by chapter, beginning with an introduction to the programming language and its benefits, its syntax and semantics, functions, variables, macros, and so on, including practical exercises. For those who prefer that, links to where the printed edition may be purchased on Amazon, Powells, and Barnes & Noble are included, along with the source code.
http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/
SBCL is a free Common Lisp implementation that includes a native compiler, Unicode support, and threading. Released in 1999, it branched off of Carnegie Mellon University Common Lisp, which itself came from Spice Lisp. Hosted on SourceForge, it is available for several platforms, it may be freely downloaded, and its manual is available online and in PDF format. Its history, copyright, and a project page are presented, along with a bug database, and links to associated resources.
http://www.sbcl.org/
