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norvig/paip-lisp

★ 7,453Common LispAudience · researcherComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · moderate

TLDR

The open-source release of Peter Norvig's classic 1992 AI programming textbook, including the full book text and all 25 chapters of runnable Common Lisp code covering foundational AI topics.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((PAIP Lisp))
    Content
      Full book text
      25 chapter files
      Classic AI code
    AI Topics
      Eliza chatbot
      Problem solver
      Expert systems
      Game playing
    Tech
      Common Lisp
      1980s AI research
    Formats
      PDF scans
      Markdown chapters
      Ebook downloads
    Audience
      CS students
      AI researchers
      Lisp learners
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Code map

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Study classic AI algorithms like general problem solving, expert systems, and game-playing by reading and running the Lisp code from each chapter

USE CASE 2

Learn Common Lisp through practical AI examples ranging from a chatbot to a Lisp compiler

USE CASE 3

Use the Eliza chatbot or Othello game-playing code as starting points for understanding conversational AI or minimax search

Tech stack

Common Lisp

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 1h+

Requires a Common Lisp runtime such as SBCL to run the code examples alongside the book chapters.

Released openly by the author, free to read and use the code for learning and research purposes.

In plain English

This repository is the open-source companion to a textbook called "Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp," written by Peter Norvig and originally published in 1992. The author reclaimed the copyright and released everything here under an open license. The book appears on several lists of the most influential texts for programmers and covers both the Lisp programming language and foundational ideas in artificial intelligence. The repo contains two main things: the full text of the book in various formats, and all of the Lisp code from its chapters. The book is available as scanned PDFs of older print editions, as automatically generated ebooks, and as a set of Markdown text files for each chapter. If you want to read it digitally, the releases section of the repository is where the downloads live. The code covers a wide range of classic AI topics spread across 25 chapters. Early chapters build simple programs like a version of Eliza, the 1960s chatbot that mimics a therapist, and a general problem solver that tries to figure out sequences of steps to reach a goal. Later chapters get into logic programming, expert systems, natural language grammars, game-playing strategies for Othello, and how to build a Lisp compiler. Each chapter's code is in its own file, making it straightforward to read alongside the corresponding chapter. Common Lisp is an older programming language that was central to AI research in the 1980s and 1990s. You do not need to already know it to benefit from the book, but some programming background helps. The code files are meant to be read and run together with the text, not as standalone tools. This is primarily a learning resource and historical archive rather than a library you would pull into a project.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I set up a Common Lisp environment and run the Eliza chatbot code from the PAIP textbook?
Prompt 2
Explain the general problem solver from PAIP chapter 4 and show me how to define a new problem for it to solve
Prompt 3
How does the Othello game-playing algorithm in PAIP implement minimax search? Walk me through the key code
Prompt 4
Which chapter of PAIP covers natural language grammars and how do I run the example parser?
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