diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md index 6d579136971cfa802187693988e428bbe3a9d697..29b54e5e10547a568061dc6bf8b04258d3b74072 100644 --- a/CHANGELOG.md +++ b/CHANGELOG.md @@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ ## 2022-09-05 -- Moved Exercise 1.1.8, "Configuring Your Development Environment" to Preface +- Moved Exercise 1.1.8, "Configuring Your Development Environment" to Preface, revised, and added a new section on working from the command-line - Incremented Preface part numbers appropriately - Reformatted Preface titles diff --git a/configuration.md b/configuration.md index 29b109324e14eb6462a59c5cab6b8898bfa517d3..5553b3c627cd13b676883accd4d9bc730ae75daf 100644 --- a/configuration.md +++ b/configuration.md @@ -2,7 +2,23 @@ ## Configuring Your Development Environment -Now that you've gotten yourself a feel for Common Lisp, you'll want to spend a little time configuring your development environment so that you can dive right into the code. A lot of configuration choices are a matter of personal taste, but as long as you feel comfortable, and nothing interferes with your ability to learn and hack in Lisp, you can't really go wrong. +Before diving in head-first to Common Lisp with [Chapter 1.1](./1-01-00-lisp-bootcamp.md), you'll want to spend a little time configuring your development environment so that you can focus on the code. A lot of configuration choices are a matter of personal taste, and there are many excellent implementations of the Common Lisp language available, but for the sake of this book we will stick to a minimalist approach: working from the command-line with SBCL and a plain-text editor. + +If you are an advanced user and already have a preferred development environment that supports Lisp, such as Emacs or vim, you can stick with it. The point is to feel comfortable, confident, and focused so that nothing interferes with your ability to learn Lisp. + +### Working from the Command-Line + +As a developer, it is important to be comfortable working at the command-line. For this book, we will focus on working with Lisp from the command-line, not advanced features of command-line shells themselves, so you can use whichever one you prefer or have installed by default. + +If you've never used a command-line shell before, PowerShell 7 is open-source, cross-platform, and has a low barrier of entry, which means it's free, you'll be able to pick it up fast, and carry over your skills to any environment. It is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. + +Documentation on PowerShell 7, including download and installation instructions are available at: + +https://microsoft.com/powershell + +macOS, Linux, UNIX, and BSD typically provide Bash out-of-the-box and support other command-line shells such as ZSH. + +Windows includes the old Windows PowerShell 5.1 and DOS command-line out-of-the-box, but it is recommended to upgrade to PowerShell 7 or use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) which includes Bash. ### Installing SBCL @@ -124,12 +140,3 @@ All you need to get started with Lisp is a simple, no-frills text editor with sy * Notepad++ Your favourite existing text editor should also be fine, just make sure it has syntax highlighting for Lisp and stays out of your way. - -### Working From the Command-Line - -(writing notes) - -- Importance of being comfortable with the Command-Line -- Running and Compiling Lisp source-code files from the Command-Line -- Lisp shell scripts -- Launching the REPL for interactive development