When comparing Practical Common Lisp vs exercism.org, the Slant community recommends Practical Common Lisp for most people. In the question“What are the best resources to learn Common Lisp?” Practical Common Lisp is ranked 1st while exercism.org is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Practical Common Lisp is:
The author writes in a way that's easy to understand, using clear examples to further demonstrate the concepts.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Concise and clear writing style
The author writes in a way that's easy to understand, using clear examples to further demonstrate the concepts.
Pro Lots of practical examples
From very early on in the book, the author introduces practical examples to help the reader fully grasp the topics.
Pro Provides detailed explanation of all major functions
Pro Human review and feedback
Rather than merely test for code correctness, Exercism uses peer review to improve general programming techniques. Users are encouraged to comment on others' solutions, and refine their own based on feedback.
Pro Practice with production tools
Unlike many code practice websites, Exercism requires the user to develop and test entirely offline, submitting only the finished code. This promotes familiarity with essential tools and workflow, not just the bare language.
Cons
Con Index is lacking
Practical Common Lisp is not a good option as a reference book due to the poor index. Some concepts that span a page or two are not indicated in the index.
Con Code optimization section feels a little light
Con Custom commandline client
Exercism requires using a CLI utility to fetch and submit exercises. This is inconvenient compared to web-only alternatives, and poses an additional barrier to entry for some users.