CL-reference

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This project is an attempt at writing a reference manual for the Common Lisp programming language.

It differs from the Common Lisp HyperSpec in the following ways:

• It describes the language features in a more elaborate way, including more examples and more explicit information about exceptional, undefined, and unspecified behavior.

• The contents is in the public domain (in places where such a status is possible).

• It has more cross references, annotations, and remarks.

• It has a better index.

Although the HyperSpec is protected by copyright, it is largely based on the contents of the draft ANSI standard, and the draft ANSI standard is in the public domain. It is therefore fine for this reference manual to contain material from the draft ANSI standard, as long as the source of the material is credited.

We are using LaTeX in order for the printed result to be as nice as possible. At the same time, we attempt to use a limited number of semantic macros so that the source can be parsed and turned into a variety of formats, e.g., HTML.

Figures are made using some tool that can produce "FIG" files, such as Xfig. To turn them into PDF files, we use the fig2dev program, which must therefore be installed before the final PDF file can be built. You can install fig2dev as part of the transfig package.

The only way this reference manual is ever going to be finished is if many different people help out. In that respect, it can be viewed as an experiment to see whether such collaboration is possible.