The Python C API, while very well put together, is still C and therefore requires a lot of time an effort to understand, let alone use. But every now and then, a programmer comes across something that is either impossible in Python or so prohibitively expensive performance-wise that it is worth dusting off the old C textbook. Read More...

The past couple of articles have been tutorials on how to use CFFI to access functions from C libraries in Lisp. Out of completeness, I thought I'd write a short tutorial demonstrating how much easier it is to do the same thing in newLisp. As newLisp is an entirely interpreted language, this built in functionality allows very easy extension of the language using much more low level and efficient libraries. Read More...

Once the library has been defined and loaded into the Lisp image, work can begin on defining C routines in Lisp.

Before that can be done, however, a note for those who do not know C... Read More...

One of the more significant difficulties I face when developing Lisp applications is the apparent lack of generally compatable database libraries for the various lisp dialects. CLSQL is a nice solution, but it does not get along well on OSX, my development OS, or with CLISP, which is the primary lisp dialect I have available on my host...

Using CFFI, we can fairly easily create mappings for the most important MySQL C api functions. This entry will walk through the process of importing the library; future entries will go one to defining a few of the most basic routines for our lisp image. Read More...