A few days ago I wrote about Simon Tatham’s overview of C. Today, I want to mention a very nice overview of Lisp. The overview is really a Lisp primer aimed at C/C++/Java programmers (it’s notes from the CSC330 course at Cal Poly meant to serve as an introduction to Lisp for students whose experience is limited to imperative languages).
If you’re a Lisper, it’s easy to nitpick the notes. Some areas you may think important aren’t covered, and others are covered in an idiosyncratic way. Still, it’s an excellent introduction to Lisp and how it’s different from and the same as the C/C++/Java environments.
If you’re curious about Lisp—even if you don’t want to commit to learning it—this is a good document to get a feeling for what it’s like. To be sure, it doesn’t come close to capturing the power and beauty of Lisp but it does give you a reasonable idea of what the excitement is about.
Definitely worth 15 or 20 minutes of time if you have any curiosity at all about Lisp. My own awakening came from a blog post that pointed me to Paul Graham’s Ansi Common Lisp. This may be a lighter-weight introduction to get you interested.