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From: jwp@utah-cs.UUCP (John W Peterson)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: ExperLisp Comments Sought
Message-ID: <3333@utah-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 11-May-85 03:48:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: utah-cs.3333
Posted: Sat May 11 03:48:33 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 12-May-85 02:35:42 EDT
References: <863@mhuxt.UUCP>
Organization: Univ of Utah CS Dept
Lines: 35

I had a chance to play with it, and, although I didn't play with it
extensivly, I was pretty impressed.  While it doesn't implement "full
commom Lisp" (something about as nebulous as "full Ada") it definitly
implements enough of the language to write genuinly useful programs.

In addition to vanilla Lisp, they provide very complete access to
toolbox functions from within the Lisp environment.  You can define your
own menus, create and manipulate windows, use the mouse, etc.  In
addition to all the quickDraw graphics, they supply something called
"bunny graphics"  This is like turtle graphics, but it also works in 3D
and spherical coordinates.

Allthough I didn't time it, execution seems pretty fast.  The system
doesn't have an interpreter in the normal sense; all functions are
compliled as they are defined.  While this keeps things fast and compact,
it does restrict your ability to munge on defined functions.

The system is big, you must have a two-drive mac with at least 512K to run it.
It does leave quite a chunk of heap space though, in fact ExperTelligence
claims the OPS5 production system is running on it.

It isn't perfect though, I've heard reports that it does occasionally
bomb. While the manual is well written, it is very poorly organized
(functions in alphabetical order...like the old TECO manuals...).  They
supply a multi-window editor environment for program development.
However, the editor *does not support paren bouncing*.  This is a real
lose if you're used to that feature.  There are no data-structuring
tools (e.g., DefStruct), though they claim to have an Objects package on
the way.   It's also very spendy, >$500.  (Sort of like Jazz... you
pretty well have to get the company to pay for it...)

[I can't resist a plug:  For those with less than $500 or less than 512K,
Macintosh PSL (Portable Standard Lisp) should be available Real Soon Now.
And unlike ExperLisp, we implemented paren matching, and our manual
has an index! : ) ]