Optional Hw0: LISP

Review Lisp!

Take a look at the Lisp Style and Efficiency page. If some parts are unfamiliar, refer to standard Lisp texts. Go to a workstation and get started with emacs and Lisp environment. Try out some of the examples.

A good text in Lisp programming is e.g. Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp, by Peter Norvig

A good reference is Common Lisp the Language by Guy Steele.

Efficiency issues in Lisp

Type in the three list-of-nums functions shown in the Efficiency page, or use the file /u/cs381k/bermuda.lsp. Gather data on the time required to execute these functions for argument n up to 5000. You should compile the functions to reduce the time required.

Make a graph showing how the time required for each function varies with the size of the parameter n. For each function, give a formula that approximately tells the time required as a function of n, based upon your experimental data. Write up a couple of paragraphs summing up the results and what you learned from the experiment.

This is a minor assignment to get you started. Hand-drawn graphs and approximations of the formulas are perfectly acceptable; a fancy report is not expected.


risto@cs.utexas.edu
Wed Aug 30 01:18:09 2000