How to Install Lisp on Windows 10

This post is from 2017 and may be out of date. The CLISP and Emacs versions and download links are from 2017.

from Jonathan Fischer and YouTube

Download

1. Common LISP.
2. Emacs – editor / “IDE”.
3. Quicklisp – key LISP library that allows to download and maintain other libraries with ease.

Install

1. Install Emacs.
   • Unpack contents of Emacs archive.
   • Add Emacs directory (e.g. C:\ntemacs24\bin) to your PATH system variable.
2. Create HOME directory.
   This is necessary to avoid problems with home directory recognition by lisp.
   • Create the C:\HOME directory.
   • Add a new system variable with Name HOME and Value C:\HOME.
3. Install CLISP.
   • Create an easy-to-reach, easy-to-use directory. I use C:\lisp.
   • Install CLISP in that directory.
     NOTE: the latest version at the time of writing is 2.49, but I’m having trouble getting it to load SLIME properly (see below), so version 2.48 it is. (file clisp-2.48-win32-mingw-big.exe).
   • IMPORTANT:
     Installer of the version 2.48 is faulty.
     To fix this problem, copy svm.dll out of clisp-2.48/libsvm directory into clisp-2.48/full.
4. Install quicklisp.
   • Place quicklisp.lisp into C:\lisp
   • Run CLISP and execute the following:

   (load "C:/lisp/quicklisp.lisp")
   (quicklisp-quickstart:install :path "C:/lisp/quicklisp/")
   (ql:add-to-init-file)
   

5. Install SLIME – Superior Lisp Interaction Mode for Emacs, an Emacs extension to make lisp development seamless.
   In the CLISP console execute:

   (ql:quickload "quicklisp-slime-helper")
   

6. Configure Emacs.
   • Launch Emacs.
   • Type Ctrl-x, then Ctrl-f.
   • Enter ~/.emacs in the prompt at the bottom of the window.
   • Add the following lines to the file:

   (setq inferior-lisp-program "clisp.exe")
   (load "C:/lisp/quicklisp/slime-helper.el")
   

   • Type Ctrl-x, then Ctrl-s to save the file.