Hello,
I would like advice on getting starting using common lisp to write
programs.
Some (possible) relevant issues:
I use Windows 2000 on a PC.
I have some formal training in C++ and Visual Basic and have written
some minor programs in them.  As an architect I have also worked with
Autolisp in Autocad and have written dozens of small Autolisp
functions.
The types of programs I am looking to write are ones in which I would
be dealing with manipulating 2D and 3D spaces and the connections
between them, perhaps in some kind of an artificial intelligence way,
having the program generate alternative layouts based on different
weighted factors.  This is just a starting point I really just want to
see what might be possible as I learn more about programming.
Note:  I do not have a working copy of common lisp and need help
figuring out which version would be best to install.
I do not have a very large budget to work with but I will purchase
software if needed.
Books bought on the subject (I have not yet received them):
of Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation  by
Touretzky,
David
of Understanding Lisp  by Gloess, Paul Y.
How to Solve It in LISP  by Hall, Patrick
The Little LISPer : Trade Edition [Paperback]  by Friedman, Daniel
P...
Common Lisp and Artificial Intelligence  by Harrison, Patrick R.
Artificial Intelligence Programming [Hardcover]  by Charniak, Eugene;
Riesbeck
Writing GNU Emacs Extensions: Editor Customizations and Creations with
Lisp
Writing GNU Emacs Extensions: Editor Customizations and Creations with
Lisp

Final note:  I am a complete amateur to programming and do not have
any contacts with programmers in my work.  Advice of any sort will be
appreciated.
Thanks Very Much
Zac. Kane

Hello Zkane,

There are a number of good products for Common Lisp on Windows. For
example:

  http://www.franz.com/
Allegro Common Lisp (by Franz, Inc.) is a full featured system. I used
Franz on Vaxen years ago so this is a mature company. There is a free
trial version available for evaluation. Pricing for the full version
starts at $599.

  http://clisp.sourceforge.net/
CLISP Common Lisp is what I have on my Mac OS X system, but Windows
binaries are available as well. It works well and fully implements
ANSI Common Lisp (with a handful of exceptions - read the
documentation for details). Free software.

  http://www.cormanlisp.com/
Corman Common Lisp (by Corman Technologies) is another full featured
system. The pricing is less ($125) but you may be able to use it
freely as well. There is a note indicating the license allows others
to use it.

  http://www.gnu.org/software/gcl/gcl.html
  http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/novak/gclwin.html
GNU Common Lisp (by Free Software Foundation) is described as not
quite ANSI compliant, and used the C compiler to generate good code.
It is pretty comprehensive - has been used to build several large
systems including Maxima and ACL2.

  http://www.lispworks.com/products/
Lispworks (by Xanalys); I don't know much about this one (I've at
least heard of the others) and the on line documentation is a sizeable
download. The personal edition allows you to run for a limited period
of time / limited space but sounds pretty full featured. The fee for a
full system / support is $999.

There are other systems available - for reference see
  http://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/commonlisp.shtml
  http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/Groups/AI/html/faqs/lang/lisp/part4/faq-doc-1.html
or search for 
  common lisp windows

From what you described as your book list - I assume you have some
familiarity with emacs. The lisp environment in emacs is pretty good -
not quite as flashy as with Visual Basic, but capable of getting the
job done. I can recommend a site with emacs for Windows as well if you
don't already have it. Several of these lisp environments have
descriptions of integrating with emacs (or Xemacs).

Some other resources that could help with examples or information
about the domain you describe (2d / 3d object manipulation) include:

  http://www.psg.com/~dlamkins/sl/cover.html
Successful Lisp - an on line book describing lisp. Chapter 7 has some
examples of definitions for objects (2d / 3d points) and an object
hierarchy covering graphical elements. Chapter 3 has a tutorial
"Essential Lisp in 12 Lessons".

  http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/Groups/AI/html/faqs/lang/lisp/part7/faq-doc-2.html
"What Graphers / Browsers are Available?" from the Lisp FAQ, leading
to
  http://www.ai.sri.com/~grasper/
Perhaps a stretch, but Grasper is a very interesting looking package,
showing some of the capabilities of displays in Lisp. It appears you
may be able to get source code - but it likely requires some email
discussion with the developers.

There are other packages such as CLIM, but it appears they support
X-windows only (and not Microsoft Windows). If you have access to an X
server (e.g., Hummingbird or Exceed), let me know so I can make
further suggestions. If you have Tcl/Tk, there are a few packages that
support that as well. Let me know if you need references.

Another good site I found is
  http://www.computists.com/index.html
which has an interesting collection of email messages / articles -
primarily material published in 2001. Check the Public Archives or see
an example at
  http://www.computists.com/archives/crs11toc.html
which has a number of Common Lisp references, Artificial Intelligence
references, Mobile Robots, and so on. A number of links from these
pages to where further information can be found.

This is a pretty open ended question - let me know if you need
clarification or further information on this topic.
  --Maniac

Thanks Maniac,

I installed Franz lisp and Corman lisp this morning.  
I also tried clisp, but its install was very confusing.