Chapter 1.20

Part One in Review

"To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits."

You've finally reached the end of Part One. By this point, you should have a solid grounding in the fundamentals of Lisp, be able to write and distribute your own text-based Lisp applications as both source code libraries and self-contained binaries, and run your own Lisp-powered web sites. You've even got a few games to play!

But you're not done yet. To make sure you're ready for Part Two, and the rest of the Lisp language, you need to assess how deeply you've internalized Lisp so far. I present to you three challenges that will push you and your new-found skills to their limits:

• First Challenge: review, categorize, and memorize all Symbols used in Part One
• Second Challenge: describe Lisp Syntax from memory, and categorize by theme
• Third Challenge: code review of random CL library---compare its style with the style guide, profile improvements, get it to run

If any of these challenges stump you, you may need to go back and re-do the related exercises before moving on to Part Two. But once you can complete these three challenges, it's time to give yourself a pat on the back and celebrate! You're now a novice Lisp Hacker!

Also be sure to save your notes from these three challenges, and take a week off to let this material sink in. Once you're ready to start Part Two, you can refer to your notes to trigger your memory.

See you in Part Two!