What the Roots of Lisp conveys is this idea that John McCarthy brought to the world of programming. Essentially, this paper establishes the origin of the Lisp Methodology of programming, and its useful features that have made their way into the C model of programming.
Graham then shows us primitive operators which actually look quite similar, having studied Clojure for a bit. One can easily see the similarities between eq, car, cdr, with =, first and rest, etc.
Functions are then introduced as ways of processing data by evaluating its parameters. A remarkable trait of Lisp that surely inspired many other languages is the ability to call itself within the function, creating recursion which is a highly effective way of tackling problems.
Additionally, Graham shows us list manipulation and data extraction. Again, with functions, which he later explains their greater meaning by showing a Lisp Interpreter within Lisp itself. He explains in detail the functionality behind eval and each of its parts.
After detailing the functionality of eval, Graham emphasizes the important implications of Lisp in the world of programming paradigms. For starters, the notation is quite simple and elegant. Not only that, but the way that Lisp works is very efficient, produces no side effects, and is very much like mathematical formulas.
In the end, I dunno how to feel about Lisp, or Clojure for that matter. It seems like we're translating math to code with very little alteration in the semblance of both. So, yes, it is effective, the issue here is, well, I'm not. I am still not up to par with Clojure, as it appears that if you can't do it efficiently, you can't do it at all. Far from being discouraged, I take it as a challenge to improve my skills and expand my mind. We'll see how it goes, I guess.
Graham then shows us primitive operators which actually look quite similar, having studied Clojure for a bit. One can easily see the similarities between eq, car, cdr, with =, first and rest, etc.
Functions are then introduced as ways of processing data by evaluating its parameters. A remarkable trait of Lisp that surely inspired many other languages is the ability to call itself within the function, creating recursion which is a highly effective way of tackling problems.
Additionally, Graham shows us list manipulation and data extraction. Again, with functions, which he later explains their greater meaning by showing a Lisp Interpreter within Lisp itself. He explains in detail the functionality behind eval and each of its parts.
After detailing the functionality of eval, Graham emphasizes the important implications of Lisp in the world of programming paradigms. For starters, the notation is quite simple and elegant. Not only that, but the way that Lisp works is very efficient, produces no side effects, and is very much like mathematical formulas.
In the end, I dunno how to feel about Lisp, or Clojure for that matter. It seems like we're translating math to code with very little alteration in the semblance of both. So, yes, it is effective, the issue here is, well, I'm not. I am still not up to par with Clojure, as it appears that if you can't do it efficiently, you can't do it at all. Far from being discouraged, I take it as a challenge to improve my skills and expand my mind. We'll see how it goes, I guess.
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