A Lisp macro is simply a piece of Lisp code that writes another piece of Lisp code that it
then feeds into the compiler/interpreter. From the ANSI spec:
macro form n. a form that stands for another form (e.g., for the purposes of abstraction, information hiding, or syntactic convenience); that is, either a compound form whose first element is a macro name, or a form that is a symbol that names a symbol macro.
Essentially macros perform transformations on the source code before it gets interpreted/compiled, and unlike (say) C macros, they're a lot more predictable and less dangerous. They're not really like an exec or eval.
Since when does Linux take up a whole CD-ROM? Seems to me one can load Linux (the OS) from a floppy. Presumably for a PDA, the other apps that one would normally find on a CD-ROM distribution would be replaced by apps suitable for the PDA context.
Well, perhaps it does ultimately cut down on the number of people coding for a living. Is that in itself bad? For the most part we no longer have people connecting telephone calls by hand or reaping wheat by hand when a combine can be used. If we can write most of the code that we need, then doesn't this free up some intelligent people to take on other problems instead of involving them in a lot of redundant effort?
Well, I would say that the set of books that I would consider buying is much, much smaller than the set of books that I would not consider buying (either because I know I would not want to or because I never even considered it). A given random book review is more likely to hit a book in the set that I would not consider buying, and hence it might be useful for me to see a review of such a book that would make me consider moving it into the "might buy" category. It's rather more unlikely that a random review is going to be of a book already in my "might buy" (although of course this is possible). So a negative review is most likely to have the effect of just keeping a book in my "not considered" category. So one might possibly view positive reviews as more useful.
Paul Graham's "ANSI Common Lisp", which I am currently reading, is IMHO a pretty good book on Lisp. It contains both a tutorial on Lisp and a reference section.
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A Lisp macro is simply a piece of Lisp code that writes another piece of Lisp code that it
then feeds into the compiler/interpreter. From the ANSI spec:
macro form n. a form that stands for another form (e.g., for the purposes of abstraction, information hiding, or syntactic convenience); that is, either a compound form whose first element is a macro name, or a form that is a symbol that names a symbol macro.
Essentially macros perform transformations on the source code before it gets interpreted/compiled, and unlike (say) C macros, they're a lot more predictable and less dangerous. They're not really like an exec or eval.
Since when does Linux take up a whole CD-ROM? Seems to me one can load Linux (the OS) from a floppy. Presumably for a PDA, the other apps that one would normally find on a CD-ROM distribution would be replaced by apps suitable for the PDA context.
There's also PerlQt
Well, perhaps it does ultimately cut down on the number of people coding for a living. Is that in itself bad? For the most part we no longer have people connecting telephone calls by hand or reaping wheat by hand when a combine can be used. If we can write most of the code that we need, then doesn't this free up some intelligent people to take on other problems instead of involving them in a lot of redundant effort?
Well, I would say that the set of books that I would consider buying is much, much smaller than the set of books that I would not consider buying (either because I know I would not want to or because I never even considered it). A given random book review is more likely to hit a book in the set that I would not consider buying, and hence it might be useful for me to see a review of such a book that would make me consider moving it into the "might buy" category. It's rather more unlikely that a random review is going to be of a book already in my "might buy" (although of course this is possible). So a negative review is most likely to have the effect of just keeping a book in my "not considered" category. So one might possibly view positive reviews as more useful.
Paul Graham's "ANSI Common Lisp", which I am currently reading, is IMHO a pretty good book on Lisp. It contains both a tutorial on Lisp and a reference section.
The 3.5" install definitely saved my old notebook, so there's at least one!