[cl-faq] About inclusion in the FAQ

[sjsubscribe@gmail.com]

Here are some thoughts about what to include in the updated FAQ.  
These are based on my own experience in finding out about lisp,  
having no other person/source anywhere to rely on. It meant scouring  
the web for meaningful resources. I can share these for the FAQ, but  
here are the broad areas:

A place to put links to all free online versions of PDF books --  
essential for all newcomers.

A place to put the chronology of lisp versions, dialects, etc. Need a  
snapshot view, nothing elaborate in the FAQ.

A list of editors (besides emacs) that have lisp code highlighting.  
If a programmer finds his/her favorite editor has lisp mode, they're  
more likely to jump in. Starting in lisp and emacs at the same time  
may be daunting.

Most recent OSS/FS projects that have/will use lisp. A place for  
programmers to find some activity -- not some lonely blog of a lisp  
programmer, but an active online community.

A clear step-by-step guide to installing packages.  A note about why  
installing packages fail (enumerating the kinds of failures: missing  
urls, mangled code, compilation errors, etc.).

Finally, I can also volunteer to some technical editing though I'm by  
no means proficient in CL.

Sanjay Jeer
sjsubscribe at gmail dot com