Awesome Common Lisp

A curated list of awesome Common Lisp stuff.

Add something new! See the contributing section for adding something to the list.

All libraries listed here are available from Quicklisp unless stated otherwise.

This is released under the GNU Free Documentation License - its text is provided in the LICENSE file. This repository is also mirrored on NotABug - a fully-free (as in libre) alternative to Github. Preference is given to free software and sellers who aren't evil for physical resources.

Table of Contents

• Awesome Common Lisp
• Build Systems
• Crypto
• Database
• Foreign Function Interface
  • C
  • Java
  • Miscellaneous
  • Python
• Game Development
• Graphics
• GUI
• Implementations
• JSON
• Learning and Tutorials
  • Online
  • Beginner
  • Intermediate
  • Advanced
  • Reference
  • Offline
  • Beginner
  • Intermediate
  • Advanced
• Library Manager
• Natural Language Processing
• Network and Internet
• Numerical and Scientific
• Parallelism and Concurrency
• Regex
• Text Editor Resources
  • Emacs
  • Vim
• Tools
• Unit Testing
• Utilities
• XML
• Contributing

Build Systems

• ASDF - Another System Definition Facility; a build system for Common Lisp. Expat.
• asdf-linguist - Extensions for ASDF. Expat.

Crypto

• crypto-shortcuts - Collection of common crypto shortcuts. Artistic License 2.0.
• Ironclad - A library of crypto functions for Common Lisp. Not considered secure, but is still useful for the message digest functions. Expat.
• trivial-ssh - An SSH client library. Expat.

Database

• cl-dbi - A database-independent interface for Common Lisp. LLGPL.
• cl-memcached - Fast, thread-safe interface to the Memcached object caching system. Expat.
• cl-mongo - MongoDB client. Expat.
• cl-redis - Redis client. Expat.
• cl-disque - Disque client. 3-clause BSD.
• cl-rethinkdb - RethinkDB client. Expat.
• cl-sqlite - Bindings for SQLite. Public domain.
• clsql - An SQL database with a Common Lisp interface. LLGPL.
• clache - General caching facility. No license specified.
• clouchdb - Library for interacting with CouchDB. FreeBSD.
• crane - Another ORM. Expat.
• datafly - A lightweight database library. 3-clause BSD.
• integral - An ORM. 3-clause BSD.
• postmodern - A library for interacting with PostgreSQL. zlib.
• sxql - A DSL for generating SQL. 3-clause BSD.

Foreign Function Interface

C

• CFFI - Portable, easy-to-use C foreign function interface. Expat.
• cl-autowrap - Automatically parses header files into CFFI definitions. FreeBSD.

Java

• cl+j - A JNI-based interface to a JVM via CFFI. Not available on Quicklisp. Does not reliably work with all implementations. Expat.

Miscellaneous

• Foil - A foreign object interface; works with the JVM and CLI. Not available on Quicklisp. CPL 1.0.

Python

• burgled-batteries - A bridge between Python and Common Lisp. Not available on Quicklisp. No license specified.

Game Development

• Xelf - Extensible game library. Not available on Quicklisp. GNU LGPL2.1.

Graphics

These are libraries for working with graphics, rather than making GUIs (i.e. widget toolkits), which have their own section.

• cl-cairo2 - Cairo bindings. Boost 1.0
• cl-gd - A library providing an interface to the GD graphics library. FreeBSD.
• cl-horde3d - FFI bindings to the Horde3D graphics library. Not available on Quicklisp. EPL 1.0
• cl-opengl - CFFI bindings to OpenGL, GLU and GLUT APIs. 3-clause BSD.
• cl-sdl2 - Bindings for SDL2 using C2FFI. Expat.
• cl-svg - A basic library for producing SVG files. Expat.
• CLinch - Common Lisp 2D/3D graphics engine for OpenGL. FreeBSD.
• donuts - Graph drawing DSL for Common Lisp. Expat.
• lispbuilder-sdl - A set of bindings for SDL. Expat.
• okra - CFFI bindings to Ogre. Not available on Quicklisp. 3-clause BSD.
• Varjo - Lisp to GLSL translator. Not available on Quicklisp. LLGPL.
• Vecto - Simple vector drawing library. FreeBSD.
• zpng - A library for creating PNG files. FreeBSD.

GUI

• cl-cffi-gtk - Binding for GTK+3. GNU LGPL2.1.
• cl-gtk2 - A binding for GTK+2. LLGPL.
• cl-xul - Mozilla XUL bindings. Expat.
• CommonQt - A Common Lisp binding for Qt4 via QtSmoke. FreeBSD.
• ltk - A binding for the Tk toolkit. LLGPL or GNU LGPL2.1.
• ceramic - Desktop web apps with Common Lisp. Expat.

Implementations

• ABCL - Armed Bear Common Lisp; targets the JVM, compiles to bytecode. Standard conformance. GNU GPL3 with Classpath exception.
• CCL - Clozure Common Lisp; compiler-only implementation, generates native code. LLGPL.
• CMUCL - An implementation from Carnegie Mellon University. Public domain.
• ECL - Embeddable Common Lisp; compiles to C. GNU LGPL2.1.
• GCL - Another GNU implementation; not yet fully ANSI-compliant. GNU LGPL2.1.
• GNU CLISP - A GNU implementation; contains a compiler and an interpreter. Standard conformance. GNU GPL3.
• SBCL - A fork of CMUCL; compiles to machine code. Standard compliance. Public domain, with some parts under Expat and 3-clause BSD.

JSON

• cl-json - A JSON encoder and decoder. Expat.
• jsown - A reader and writer for the JSON format. Expat.

Learning and Tutorials

Online

Beginner

• Learn X in Y minutes | Where X = Common Lisp - Small Common Lisp tutorial covering the essentials.
• Practical Common Lisp - A good introductory text to Common Lisp, with practical examples.
• Common LISP: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation - A nice introduction into the language.
• Learn LISP: Simply Easy Learning - A good set of introductory tutorials; includes interactive examples.
• Common Lisp Koans - The project guides the learner progressively through many Common Lisp language features.

Intermediate

• Common Lisp tips - A blog with useful tips and tricks.
• CommonQt tutorial - A nice introduction to CommonQt.
• A tutorial for creating and publishing open-source Common Lisp software - A handy tutorial for using Quicklisp and a bunch of other tools to create and publish a project in Common Lisp.

Advanced

• Let Over Lambda - A book on advanced macro techniques. The first six chapters are available online.
• On Lisp - Paul Graham's amazing book on Lisp macros (and other interesting things).

Reference

• Common Lisp Quick Reference - A distilled, pocket-size version of the ANSI CL spec. Available for download as a PDF.
• CLHS - The Common Lisp HyperSpec; the ANSI CL standard, in hypertext form.
• Common Lisp the Langauge - The original standard for Common Lisp before the ANSI spec.
• Minispec - A friendlier, but less-complete, version of CLHS. Also contains documentation for some commonly-used CL libraries (such as Alexandria).
• Quickdocs - A reference for the libraries provided by Quicklisp.

Offline

Beginner

• Land of Lisp - A fun, game-oriented introduction to Common Lisp.
• Practical Common Lisp - A good introductory text to Common Lisp, with practical examples.
• Common Lisp Koans - The project guides the learner progressively through many Common Lisp language features.

Intermediate

• ANSI Common Lisp - A thorough, practical covering of the entire language, with exercises. Not recommended as a starter text, due to some caveats.

Advanced

• Let Over Lambda - A book on advanced macro techniques. All eight chapters are available in the print copy.
• Object-Oriented Programming in Common Lisp: A Programmer's Guide to CLOS - An old, but very thorough book on CLOS.
• Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp - A book on programming AI that covers some advanced Lisp.

Library Manager

• qlot - A project-local library installer, similar to Bundler or Carton. Expat.
• Quicklisp - A library manager containing many libraries, with easy depencency management. Expat.
• Quickutil - A utility manager, similar to Quicklisp, but for small utilities rather than whole libraries. 3-clause BSD.

Natural Language Processing

• cl-nlp - Natural language processing toolset. Apache2.0.

Network and Internet

• aserve - AllegroServe; a web server. LLGPL.
• avatar-api - Get avatars from Google+, Gravatar and others. Expat.
• Caveman - A powerful web framework. LLGPL.
• chirp - A Twitter client library. Artistic License 2.0.
• cl-closure-template - Implementation of Google's Closure templates. LLGPL.
• cl-irc - An IRC client library. Expat.
• cl-markup - Modern markup generation library. LLGPL.
• cl-openid - An implementation of OpenID. LLGPL.
• cl-who - An HTML generator. FreeBSD.
• cl-ses - Library for AWS SES. Expat.
• spinneret - Common Lisp HTML5 generator. Expat.
• Clack - A web application environment inspired by Rack and WSGI. LLGPL.
• clack-errors - Error page middleware for Clack. LLGPL.
• colleen - IRC bot with a modular framework. Artistic License 2.0.
• css-lite - A CSS grammar. Expat.
• Djula - A port of Django's template engine to Common Lisp. Expat.
• Drakma - An HTTP client. FreeBSD.
• eco - Fast, flexible, designer-friendly template engine. Expat.
• hermetic - Security for Clack-based web applications. Expat.
• hh-web - Framework for building modern web apps. Expat.
• http-parse - An HTTP parser in Common Lisp. Expat.
• humbler - A Tumblr API interface. Artistic License 2.0.
• hunchentoot - A web server. FreeBSD.
• lquery - A jQuery-like HTML/DOM manipulation library. Artistic License 2.0.
• ningle - A super-micro web framework. LLGPL.
• Postmaster - A simple, easy-to-use SMTP/IMAP library. Expat.
• radiance - An extensible framework library and multi-application CMS. Artistic License 2.0.
• saluto - OAuth 2.0 module for the RESTAS web framework. Not available on Quicklisp. 3-clause BSD.
• sytes - A library for making simple websites quickly. Not available on Quicklisp. No license specified.
• usocket - A portable TCP and UDP socket interface. Expat.
• weblocks - An advanced web framework. LLGPL
• wookie - Asynchronous HTTP server. Expat.

Numerical and Scientific

• cl-spark - Generates sparkline strings for lists of numbers. Expat.
• GSLL - GNU Scientific Library for Lisp; allows the use of the GSL from Common Lisp. GNU LGPL2.1.
• common-lisp-stat - Common Lisp statistics library. FreeBSD.
• lisp-matrix - A matrix package. FreeBSD.
• maxima - Computer algebra system. Not available on Quicklisp. GNU GPL3.

Parallelism and Concurrency

• BordeauxThreads - Portable, shared-state concurrency. Expat.
• chanl - Portable, channel-based concurrency. Expat, with parts under 3-clause BSD.
• cl-async - A library for general-purpose, non-blocking programming. Expat.
• lesque - A clone of Resque. Not available on Quicklisp. Expat.
• lparallel - A library for parallel programming. 3-clause BSD.
• Xecto - A library for regular array parallelism. 3-clause BSD.

Regex

• cl-ppcre - Portable, Perl-compatible regular expressions. FreeBSD.

Text Editor Resources

This contains plugins and other goodies for various text editors.

Emacs

• SLIME - Superior Lisp Interaction Mode for Emacs; a full-blown environment for Common Lisp inside of Emacs. Public domain.

Vim

• SLIMV - Superior Lisp Interaction Mode for Vim; a full-blown environment for Common Lisp inside of Vim. No license specified.

Tools

These are applications or bits of code that make development in Common Lisp easier without being Common Lisp libraries themselves.

• quickapp-cli - quickapp as a command-line utility. 3-clause BSD.
• SWIG - A tool for generating FFI code from C/C++ header files. GNU GPL3.

Unit Testing

• FiveAM - Simple regression testing framework. FreeBSD.
• CLUnit - A unit testing library. Expat.
• Lift - Another testing framework. A range of licenses, all free.
• Stefil - A test framework that aims to be transparent. Public domain.
• Prove - Yet another unit testing framework Expat.

Utilities

This contains anything which doesn't fit into another category.

• alexandria - A general-purpose utility library. Public domain.
• anaphora - A collection of anaphoric macros. Public domain.
• babel - A charset encoding/decoding library. Expat.
• chipz - A decompression library. 3-clause BSD.
• cl-2dsyntax - An indentation-sensitive reader system. Not available on Quicklisp. No license specified.
• cl-algebraic-data-type - A library for defining algebraic data types in a similar spirit to Haskell or ML. 3-clause BSD.
• cl-annot - Python-like annotations for Common Lisp. LLGPL.
• cl-csv - A library for parsing CSV files. 3-clause BSD.
• cl-cuda - A library to use NVIDIA CUDA in Common Lisp programs. LLGPL.
• cl-fad - A portable pathname library. FreeBSD.
• cl-interpol - A set of reader modifications to allow string interpolation. No license specified.
• CL-JavaScript - A translator from Javascript to Common Lisp. Not available on Quicklisp. Expat.
• cl-locale - A simple i18n library. LLGPL.
• cl-project - General modern project skeletons. LLGPL.
• cl-syntax - Reader syntax conventions. LLGPL.
• cl21 - An experimental project to move Common Lisp into the 21st century. Expat.
• closer-mop - A compatibility layer that rectifies many absent or incorrect MOP features. Expat.
• envy - Configuration switcher. FreeBSD.
• esrap - Packrat parser. Expat.
• fast-io - Fast octet-vector/stream I/O. 3-clause BSD.
• FSet - A functional, set-theoretic collections data structure library. LLGPL.
• glyphs - A library for cutting down the verboseness of Common Lisp in places. GNU GPL3.
• interface - A protocol library. 3-clause BSD.
• iolib - I/O library. Expat.
• iterate - An iteration construct for Common Lisp which is extensible and Lispier. No license specified.
• localtime - A development library for manipulating date and time information in a semi-standard manner. 3-clause BSD.
• log4cl - Logging framework modelled after Log4J. Apache2.0.
• mixalot - A loosely-coupled collection of audio libraries. No license specified.
• named-readtables - Provides a readtable namespace, akin to package namespaces. 3-clause BSD.
• optima - Optimized pattern-matching library. LLGPL.
• osicat - A lightweight operating system interface on POSIX-like systems. Expat.
• Parenscript - A translator from Common Lisp to Javascript. 3-clause BSD.
• parse-js - A package for parsing ECMAScript 3. zlib.
• puri-unicode - Pure URI library with Unicode support. LLGPL.
• quickapp - A project for generating template projects with SBCL and buildapp. Also includes a command-line argparser. 3-clause BSD.
• quicksearch - Look up online libraries from the REPL. Expat.
• ratify - A collection of utilities to ratify, validate and parse inputs. Artistic License 2.0.
• Salza2 - A library for creating compressed data. FreeBSD.
• serapeum - Another general-purpose utility library. Expat.
• simple-currency - A currency conversion library using daily information published by the ECB. FreeBSD.
• template - A library for templates and functions, similar to C++. 3-clause BSD.
• texp - A DSL to generate TeX. No license specified.
• trivial-benchmark - Tiny benchmarking library. Artistic Licence 2.0.
• trivial-garbage - A portable finalizer, weak hash-table and weak pointer API. Public domain.
• trivial-types - Trivial type definitions. LLGPL.
• trivial-utf8 - A small library for doing UTF-8-based I/O. Not available on Quicklisp. No license specified.
• ubiquitous - A library providing easy-to-use persistent configuration storage. Artistic License 2.0.

XML

• CXML - XML parser, with a range of extension libraries. LLGPL.
• Plump - A lenient XML parser. Artistic License 2.0.
• s-xml - A basic parser. LLGPL.
• xmls - A small, simple, non-validating XML parser. 3-clause BSD.

Contributing

Your contributions are always welcome! Please submit a pull request or create an issue to add a new framework, library or software to the list.