This book is intended for anyone who wants to become a better Lisp programmer.
It assumes some familiarity with Lisp, but not necessarily extensive programming
experience. The first few chapters contain a fair amount of review. I hope that
these sections will be interesting to more experienced Lisp programmers as well,
because they present familiar subjects in a new light.
It’s difficult to convey the essence of a programming language in one sentence,
but John Foderaro has come close:
Lisp is a programmable programming language.
There is more to Lisp than this, but the ability to bend Lisp to one’s will is a
large part of what distinguishes a Lisp expert from a novice. As well as writing
their programs down toward the language, experienced Lisp programmers build
the language up toward their programs. This book teaches how to program in the
bottom-up style for which Lisp is inherently well-suited.