Lisp IDE

[jgpaiva]

I'm going to start learning Lisp this week in university, but i found this problem.
As I'm not much informed, I'd like some information about Lisp and specially on Lisp IDEs.
I know the basics of EMACS (only a few keybindings and basic concepts), and I'm mostly convinced to use it.
But I've been told to use allegro, and also CLisp.
Can anybody give me some information so as I can get more informed?
Thanks!

[Carol Haynes]

I haven't tried it but here is a free Lisp IDE http://www.lispworks.com/products/lispworks.html#personal

Gosh this is a blast from the past - I learned Lisp over 20 years ago ... (and now remember nothing!)

How about Forth - that was a lovely language to confuse the plebs with

[jgpaiva]

Thanks for the suggestion Carol!
I'll give it a try
I see everybody hates Lisp, as i'm not beeing very well succeded in my quest.

[Carol Haynes]

You could also try http://www.ufasoft.com/lisp/ (also see http://www.programmersheaven.com/search/Download.asp?FileID=32407)

[Carol Haynes]

By the way - FWIW I typed LISP IDE into Google ... http://www.google.co.uk/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB&q=Lisp%20IDE

Having got curious (and nostaligic) here is a list of free Forth compilers and IDEs ... http://tatooine.fortunecity.com/ewok/31/fciwin2.html#Forth

There are also Basic and C++ compilers listed on the same page

[jgpaiva]

Well.. While browsing through some of those results, i think i'll use emacs (Allegro,even the students edition is payed :S)
I found this page which has a few good explanations on how to do things, and i think i can handle it.
Thanks for the links, Carol! Now I have a few things to go through in the weekend!

[Carol Haynes]

Note the link on the emacs page to "Emacs Lisp Intro" is broken - the correct link is http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-lisp-intro/

[jgpaiva]

Good thing i hadn't clicked that yet.
Thanks for the heads-up

[Carol Haynes]

If you want the ready built binaries for EMACS for Windows they can be downloaded here http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/windows/emacs-21.3-fullbin-i386.tar.gz

To Install unpack the archive to the location you want (without spaces in the pathname) (eg. C:\). It creates its own folder. Then in the folder look in the bin folder and double click addpm.exe

The instructions in the readme files are really unclear!!

[mrainey]

Here are the limitations of the free LispWorks Personal.  If that won't do, the next step up is $1100.00 US!


Please note that the LispWorks Personal Edition, distributed free of charge, has the following intentional limitations:

    * There is a heap size limit which, if exceeded, causes the image to exit. A warning is provided when the limit is approached.
    * There is a time limit of 5 hours for each session, after which the image is exited. You are warned after 4 hours of use.
    * The functions save-image, deliver, and load-all-patches are not available.
    * Initialization files are not loaded.
    * Layered product loading is not included i.e. CLIM, KnowledgeWorks, SQL/ODBC, and CORBA are not available.

[Carol Haynes]

Anyone interested in experimenting with Forth (a really fun way to confuse yourself ) then there is an excellent implementation of Win32Forth (an ANS compat Forth) at SourceForge with further information available at Forth.org.

It includes a project manager, form designer (to create window layouts) and two integrated sorce editors both of which allow you to compile code directly. You decide which source editor to associate with the compiler during installation. SciEdit looks more useful (after less than 5 minutes of fiddling) but both look pretty good. WinEd allows you to run the Forth interpreted within an editor pane, SCiEdit loads the interpreter into a separate window.

It also comes with documentation and a number of sample programs to get you started. The Forth.org link also has pointers to further documentation, history and tutorials.

If you've never experienced the esoteric world of Forth now is your chance 

Additional: Official site at http://www.win32forth.org/