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From: shebs@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley Shebs)
Newsgroups: net.lang.lisp
Subject: Re: Help with Lisp, macros, and books
Message-ID: <2029@utah-cs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Oct-83 15:56:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: utah-cs.2029
Posted: Thu Oct 20 15:56:58 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 24-Oct-83 23:49:32 EDT
References: wateng.356 utah-gr.940
Lines: 18

(just can't restrain myself!)

Spencer's remarks about PSL's RLISP mode are correct - it provides
Lisp with a more conventional syntax.  While at first it seems like
a Good Thing, it's pretty much limited to C or Pascal programs that
happen to be coded in Lisp.  When things get really hairy, as in many
AI programs, or in wild macros, RLISP becomes really obscure. A good
example is the PSL kernel, which is written in RLISP (for obscure
historical reasons).  A lot of functions don't require parens around
their args (like + and * , except that most functions are that way),
and it's anybody's guess as to what some expressions mean.  There's
a semi-automatic translator between Lisp syntax and RLISP syntax,
but the kernel's probably going to be rewritten some time, and then
"proper" syntax can be used (gosh it's nice to have your lisp system
be written entirely in lisp!)

						stan the l.h.
						utah-cs!shebs