[Openmcl-devel] Lisp versus JavaScript (was: list - vector)

[R. Matthew Emerson]

On May 18, 2009, at 11:51 PM, Andrew Shalit wrote:

>
> On May 18, 2009, at 10:08 PM, Gary Byers wrote:
>
>> If you're starting from the assumption that #'CL:AREF (without any
>> compile-time assertions) is somehow analogous (performance-wise or
>> otherwise) to an array-reference operator in a language with one  
>> array
>> type, you probably won't get very far very fast; that's simply not
>> a reasonable assumption.  In my mind, this is the sort of thing that
>> every serious CL programmer should know (though I admit to not being
>> entirely clear on how this knowledge is to be acquired; I imagine  
>> that
>> most of what's written about it tends to be excruciatingly
>> implementation-
>> dependent.)
> That brings us to the class line: "Lisp programmers know the value of
> everything and the cost of nothing."
>
> Perhaps we could add, Lisp implementors know the cost of everything,
> but Lisp documenters haven't been able to make that sufficiently
> obvious to other Lisp programmers.  But every little bit helps.

Norvig has a couple of chapters about efficiency in PAIP:

http://norvig.com/paip.html
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1558601910

Chapter 10, "Low-level efficiency issues," is an interesting and  
informative read.

The whole book is good, for that matter.  The AI problems are  
primarily a vehicle for demonstrating advanced Common Lisp programming  
techniques, so don't be turned off by the "artificial intelligence" in  
the title if AI is not your thing.