From: MERC::"uunet!CRVAX.SRI.COM!RELAY-INFO-VAX" 12-FEB-1993 11:46:59.82 To: info-vax@kl.sri.com CC: Subj: Re: VAX LISP is gone prand@PAUL.SPU.EDU (Phil Rand) writes: > I know of at least 3 lisp variants available via the internet, and I'm > sure there are more. The problem is that none of the ones I know is a > COMMON LISP, like VAX LISP, so they may or may not fit your needs. > > I've seen references to a COMMON LISP implementation from Japan that was > public domain or at least freeware. If you are alluding to Kyoto Common Lisp: people are already having big problems porting it to modern Unix operating systems, so I guess it will never run on VMS. On the other hand, there is CLISP, a free Common Lisp implementation I am maintaining and which is fairly portable: ports include Unix, DOS, OS/2, Atari, Amiga. I'm appending a description of it at the end of this message. However, it has not been ported to VMS yet, but I guess this would be a matter of only one or two weeks. I am therefore looking for a VOLUNTEER to help me porting CLISP to VMS. You can do the job if - you have 30 MB free disk space, - you are an experienced C programmer, - have email and ftp access. Once this is done, we will produce VMS executables and put them up for FTP. Bruno Haible haible@ma2s2.mathematik.uni-karlsruhe.de ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Common Lisp CLISP Common Lisp is * a convential programming language and an AI language * interactive * a Lisp for professional use Common Lisp programs are * easy to test (interactive) * easy to maintain (depending on programming style) * portable (there is a standard for the language and the library functions) Our Common Lisp CLISP * needs only 1.5 MB of memory * implements 99% of the standard * can call your preferred editor * is freely distributable Common Lisp provides * clear syntax, carefully designed semantics * several data types: numbers, strings, arrays, lists, characters, symbols, structures, streams etc. * runtime typing: the programmer needn't bother about type declarations, but he gets notified on type violations. * many generic functions: 88 arithmetic functions for all kinds of numbers (integers, ratios, floating point numbers, complex numbers), 44 search/filter/sort functions for lists, arrays and strings * automatic memory management (garbage collection) * packaging of programs into modules * macros: every programmer can make his own language extensions Our Common Lisp CLISP provides * an interpreter * a compiler which makes execution of programs 5 times faster * all data types with unlimited size (the size need never be declared, the size of lists and arrays may be changed dynamically) * integers of arbitrary length, unlimited floating point number precision * 594 library functions, 542 of them written in C Get it via anonymous ftp from ma2s2.mathematik.uni-karlsruhe.de [129.13.115.2], directory /pub/lisp/clisp/, or contact Bruno Haible . -------------------------------------------------------------------------------