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Common Lisp aka ANSI Standard X3J13. A popular LISP dialect. Most implementations compile to native code. Very few are purely interpreted or byte compiled.

Get started in Common Lisp with http://www.unmutual.info/startingwithcl.html.

Two unique things that make Common Lisp tempting, if you can get over the funny syntax:

  • The Common Lisp Object System. Common Lisp appears to be the only language in common use that has multiple dispatch.
  • Macros: with these you can create and use code generators and custom control structures with little fuss.

Perl6 is stealing them both. :) Although it won't likely be here for a few years yet. In fact multiple dispatch is already possible in Perl5, though not available natively - as always, a stroll through CPAN is helpful. --AristotlePagaltzis

Quote from Paul Graham's little essay What Made Lisp Different:

9. The whole language always available. There is no real distinction between read-time, compile-time, and runtime. You can compile or run code while reading, read or run code while compiling, and read or compile code at runtime.
Running code at read-time lets users reprogram Lisp's syntax; running code at compile-time is the basis of macros; compiling at runtime is the basis of Lisp's use as an extension language in programs like Emacs; and reading at runtime enables programs to communicate using s-expressions, an idea recently reinvented as XML.

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