I guess, while I am at it, which #lisp #commonlisp should I settle on

#ClozureCL, #GnuCommonLisp #gcl, #Clisp, #SteelBankCommonLisp (#sbcl)

@Absinthe SBCL. It is actively developed (unlike clozurecl), with monthly releases. It compiles to native code (unlike CLISP), the compiler has many unique features. That said, many implementations have their uses but if you're asking, then the answer is clear.

I very rarely hear about GCL. Last time I saw it mentioned, was in a source code hunk meant to be read by GCL specificially, followed by a comment like “my, is GCL broken”.

@akater then the next question WOD be SLY vs SLIME

@Absinthe SLY is a fork of SLIME meant to sacrifice compatibility and stability in the name of new features. I'm not very familiar with those features. Stickers look cool. Multiple REPLs may be useful to recover from a lost connection to Lisp (I got hit by it a couple of times).

So I tried SLY; but whenever I tried to autocomplete, it crashed Emacs, and I maybe even had to reboot, don't remember. I only remember those were severe crashes. My experience is likely unusual but I prefer a stable environment. SLIME is very reliable.

@akater I have them both running in different configurations, I am not noticing much in the way of differences, but I am so novice or neophyte ... Nematode even.. I really need a good feature walkthrough.