I understand totally. I had the great fortune to learn lisp after Fortran and Pascal and Pl/1, but before all the others.
lisp is a functional language (more or less) so recursion is preferred to iteration.
The beauty of lisp is that it's syntax and semantics are merged in some sense. A smart eight grader can learn scheme and be productive in an afternoon.
I don't mean to discourage you, we can always use new books, new approaches and so forth but I would recommend you go through the Chassells tutorial (reference above) that I mentioned is bundled in emacs and also look at the PLT scheme literature and/or Abelson and Sussman's SICP work as background research for your book.
I think elisp alone is a great way to learn both lisp and emacs, as well as a whole lot of computer science as well. Common Lisp is probably the most practical for the working programmer but elisp is ideal for working with emacs.
> A smart eight grader can learn scheme and be productive in an afternoon.
With all due respect "I hae ma doots" - show me such a beast as this eight grader. (as a non-American I don't even know what an eight grader is? a 14 year old, a 12 year old?)
> PLT scheme literature and/or Abelson and Sussman's SICP work
This is at the heart of the problem with Lisp in my mind. I am working on eLisp and I am getting advice to make it like Common Lisp (require 'cl) and read Scheme books.
I don't know what eLisp looks like.
I don't know how different the various dialects of Lisp are from each other.
The Chassels tutorial clearly helps the non-Lisper to write working eLisp in Emacs (and sections are referenced throughout all the existing lessons in Additional Reading) but adding more Lisp dialects into the mix at this stage isn't helping.
"With all due respect "I hae ma doots" - show me such a beast as this eight grader. (as a non-American I don't even know what an eight grader is? a 14 year old, a 12 year old?)"
I'm referring to the teach scheme[1] project of Felleisen et. al.
"I don't know what eLisp looks like.
I don't know how different the various dialects of Lisp are from each other."
I see, sorry, I misunderstood. So you're learning elisp by writing a book. Great idea, truly, I always found teaching a subject a good way to learn it better. Writing a book is also good for that. All the best and happy new year!
lisp is a functional language (more or less) so recursion is preferred to iteration.
The beauty of lisp is that it's syntax and semantics are merged in some sense. A smart eight grader can learn scheme and be productive in an afternoon.
I don't mean to discourage you, we can always use new books, new approaches and so forth but I would recommend you go through the Chassells tutorial (reference above) that I mentioned is bundled in emacs and also look at the PLT scheme literature and/or Abelson and Sussman's SICP work as background research for your book.
I think elisp alone is a great way to learn both lisp and emacs, as well as a whole lot of computer science as well. Common Lisp is probably the most practical for the working programmer but elisp is ideal for working with emacs.
Best of luck with your book!