iso work on Lisp

[MATHIS@USC-ISIF.ARPA]

I just received the suggestions from Queinnec (who is chairman of
a french standards group) and don't really have a reaction yet.
I wanted you to see this as soon as possible.  For comparison, I
am also forwarding the ISO NWI (New Work Item) proposal I drafted
and which has successfully passed through the US voting process.
-- Bob
	
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Received: By USC-ISIF.ARPA via direct-append with Hermes; 22 Feb 86 08:39:58-PST
Date: 22 Feb 1986 08:39-PST
 From: MATHIS@USC-ISIF.ARPA
To: Mathis@USC-ISIF.ARPA
Subject: Text of ISO NWI Proposal 18 February 1986
Message-ID: <[USC-ISIF.ARPA]22-Feb-86 08:39:57.MATHIS>
Sender: MATHIS@USC-ISIF.ARPA

1  Title

Information Processing Systems - Languages - Common Lisp


2  Scope

Development of an ISO standard for Common Lisp including its
syntax and semantics beginning from the proposed base document:
Common Lisp: The Language by Guy Steele Jr., Digital Press,
Burlington, MA, 1984.

The scope of the proposed standard language is essentially the
same as the scope Common Lisp as described in the Steele book;
i.e., the basic features and forms which should be supplied and
the extension mechanisms (functions, macros, and special forms)
which can be used to provide additional capabilities. There has
also been considerable work in Europe on the definition of
EUâ??LISP and in the US on the implementation of Common Lisp which
must also be considered.

The intent is to describe a programming language which can be
used in a number of different environments.  Because of the
nature of the language and its implementations, the distinctions
between implemented language features, predefined system
functionality, and user defined supplementary capabilities are
not the same as in other languages; but there will still be some
issues to resolve about the size of the language, possible
subsets and supersets, and implementors' options.


3  Existing Documents

Common Lisp: The Language by Guy Steele Jr., Digital Press,
Burlington, MA, 1984; list of errata and issues being prepared by
Guy Steele; and also the EUâ??LISP specifications currently being
developed.


4  Liaison Organizations

The Common Lisp Community, the EUâ??LISP working Group, and the
various professional societies oriented toward artificial
intelligence programming languages.


5  Programme of Work

The first meeting of an ISO Working Group on Common Lisp should
take place during Winter 1987. Since there is already a well
accepted base document and the Common Lisp Community has already
begun considering issues and revisions, a Draft Proposal should
be ready by January 1988 for SC balloting.


6  Other Comments / Purpose and Justification

Lisp is the second oldest programming language still in current
use (after Fortran).  Lisp has traditionally been the language
used for most Artificial Intelligence programming, and is now
becoming popular for non-AI tasks as well.  Throughout its early
history, Lisp was the subject of much experimentation; this has
greatly improved the Lisp language, but has also led to a
proliferation of incompatible dialects.  This lack of
standardization has impeded the acceptance of Lisp in industry.

In 1981, with the encouragement of DARPA, an effort was begun by
a number of researchers at several organizations to define a
commonly acceptable version of Lisp.  The language specification
was written by members of this informal group, after extensive
discussions on the ARPAnet.  The resulting book, Common Lisp: The
Language by Guy Steele Jr., has received world wide acceptance.
MACLISP, ZETALISP, SCHEME, INTERLISP, SPICE LISP, S-1 LISP, NIL
(New Implementation LISP), "Standard" LISP, and Portable
"Standard" LISP have all been considered in the design of Common
Lisp; and the most useful features of each were incorporated.
Common Lisp, as described in the Steele book, has now become a de
facto standard within the US, and there is great interest in this
language elsewhere. The following manufacturers currently offer
Common Lisp or have announced plans to offer Common Lisp as a
product: Symbolics, LMI, TI, DEC, DG, Gould, Sun, Apollo, Prime,
Tektronix, H-P, Xerox, AT&T, Pyramid, Lucid, Intermetrics, Gold
Hill, and Franz Inc. There is also a strong interest in Japan.
European efforts at defining EuLISP are building on the Common
Lisp experience.

The Common Lisp Community is an informal collection of people
 from industry, academia, and government who have particpated in
the initial design and implementation of Common Lisp.  This group
has been in existence for five years, communicating primarily by
ARPAnet.  Occasionally the community meets, as they did in
Boston, December 9-11, 1985.  At that meeting they decided that a
national and international standards effort for Common Lisp was
appropriate and decided to move ahead.

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Date: Thu, 15 May 86 20:50:57 -0100
 From: mcvax!inria!queinnec@seismo.CSS.GOV (Christian Queinnec)
To: Mathis@USC-ISIF.ARPA
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Here is the proposal of the Lisp experts group from AFNOR for a New
Work Item. This proposal will be submitted to Mr Mathis for opening 
discussion.  This is quite short because i only have to fill a form
with  little space devoted to text,  but the items listed cover the
main issues we expect of this standard.

â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??
Draft Proposal for a New Work Item 
15/May/1986         ISO/TC97/SC22

Title : Specifications for computer programming Language LISP

Purpose : the standard will specify 1) the syntax and semantics of the language
2) the conformity requirements 3) the host operating system requirements
3) the run-time libraries definitions 4) the mechanisms to build
developpment environnement libraries.
The standard will provide 1) equal semantics between interpreted and 
compiled execution 2) efficient implementations on general purpose 
computers 3) true portable applications (including graphics, mouse device, 
windowing systems, objects, error handling ...).

Existing Documents :
"Common-Lisp : The language", Digital Press
"Euâ??Lisp Proposals for an International Standard", (available from AFNOR)

Other comments : If approved by TC97 and if NWI is assigned to SC22, SC22
will establish a new Working Group.

â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??
Christian Queinnec


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