One key technique described in that book was Memoization. Few weeks later, I went for a job interview with $BIG_INTERNET_FIRM_THAT_ISNT_GOOGLE, where I was asked to what Memoization was and to implement it on the whiteboard. I did so (in Common Lisp as I didn't remember the syntax for a coderef in Perl; the interviewer, being an avid emacs user, understood the code) and got the position.
PAIP is a good book, but personally, my mind was blown more by SICP and On Lisp. Both of those had more unique content and "lisp magic".
When I can find the time, I want to read Purely Functional Datastructures. Clojure and PFD are the first major advancement that I've seen since my college Intro to Datastructures class.
PAIP has some great code and explains more how to do version a), how to move to version b) and finally reach version c). The process is typical in Lisp: you do a quick first version and then refine it where needed by adding features or by optimizing it at the right places.
"A great hacker .. described it to me as "the best programming book out there" (even if you never touch AI or Lisp again)."
That is a great description of PAIP. It is almost a blow by blow description of how Peter Norvig thinks through problems.
One of the great things about PAIP is that it provides a step beyond the "Introduction to ..." books that most languages have.
Some languages have books that expose how great hackers use that language and are targeted towards people really trying to master the language, eg: Common Lisp has PG's On Lisp and Peter Norvig's PAIP, C has David Hanson's "C Interfaces and Implementations", Forth has Leo Brodie's books and so on.
Many other languages, even very popular ones, don't have these intermediate-to-expert level books written by outstanding hackers and are restricted to "Introduction to X" type books often written by people who aren't necessarily great programmers, something I've found a bit strange.
Interfaces and Implementations is another great book, sitting on a shelf just below PAIP. There's code I've written based on that book that I use to date (in multiple languages).
Is this link coupled with an affiliate code? This list is useful and is relevant to HN. If it is an affiliate link, I am not objecting -- I would just give credit to a smart idea.
A great hacker (who unfortunately passed away: http://rabbi.vox.com/library/post/in-memoriam-eric-s-tiedema...) described it to me as "the best programming book out there" (even if you never touch AI or Lisp again).
One key technique described in that book was Memoization. Few weeks later, I went for a job interview with $BIG_INTERNET_FIRM_THAT_ISNT_GOOGLE, where I was asked to what Memoization was and to implement it on the whiteboard. I did so (in Common Lisp as I didn't remember the syntax for a coderef in Perl; the interviewer, being an avid emacs user, understood the code) and got the position.