(discuss this page)
This is a brand-new FAQ list. Compilation principles:
- the questions actually are frequently-asked, as distinct from "were frequently asked twenty years ago" or "good questions that we wish were frequently-asked": anybody transplanting large chunks of the old c.l.l faq will be glared at.
- an unordered FAQ is a lousy reference document (linear access time), so should be kept short.
- answers likewise should be brief. If a answer grows to more than 2-3 paragraphs, consider whether it can be made into its own page where it can be referenced directly from other parts of the site and elsewhere on the web.
- Questions of the form "Where can I get a free implementation of Lisp" or "Who else is using Lisp" are perhaps not usefully answered here as anyone who's found this list on the web site can just as easily find the Implementation or Industry Applications page. If the list eventually starts appearing out of context (e.g. posted to Usenet), this principle may be reviewed.
The Questions
- Q: Why is my program so slow?
-
Are you using sensible algorithms and data structures? A vector may be a better choice than a list if random access is required, for example.
Have you compiled it? Profiled it?
Advice on optimization may be found somewhere.
- Q: Why doesn't Lisp have many libraries?
-
This is based on the false assumption that Lisp doesn't have many libraries. Lisp has libraries for all sorts of things, and many of them can be installed trivially. Check out the big list of easy-to-install libraries at Cliki.
- Q: Why doesn't this code work?
) ) ) - Aargh! My eyes! Independent of what the program does (or is supposed to do), its layout on the page makes it unnecessarily difficult for experienced Lispers to read. Please read the Lisp Formatting Advice to learn how to format code if you want to ask Lispers for advice.
- Q: How do I generate a standalone binary?
- Leaving aside the philosophical issues of what it means to create a standalone binary (do applications with shared library dependencies count?), how you do this varies according to the Lisp implementation in use, so your first stop should be the implementation documentation. Here are a few pointers for popular implementations:
- Q: In the implementation I'm using, MAKE-PATHNAME and MERGE-PATHNAMES have different behaviour for merging directory components - is this right?
- Probably, yes. See e.g. Kent M. Pitman's post Re: make-pathname and :defaults and his post Re: pathname defaulting
- Q: I asked a question on comp.lang.lisp and got flamed; why are there so many jerks in the Lisp community?
- How did you ask your question? Was it something like this:
- "hi, can u tell me what is wrong with this? < code snippet >
Or this:
- "Hi, I'm a newbie to Lisp, and am having some trouble getting this code working. When it runs, I get < error >. I've tried < some modification to the code >, but to no avail. I'm running < Lisp implementation name and version > on < OS >. Any help would be appreciated. < code snippet >.
Read over How to Ask Smart Questions by Eric S. Raymond. Every internet community has jerks in it, so your chances of getting flamed are never zero, but if you ask a smart question, you greatly increase your chances of getting a helpful response.
