Forward: Lisp Renaissance - Please H

[miller@mcc.com (Brad Miller)]

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Date: 24 Feb 1997 18:38:03 U
From: "Byron Davies" <Byron_Davies@mesaqm.sps.mot.com>
Subject: Lisp Renaissance - Please H
To: "all ai" <all-ai@ai.mit.edu>, "WWW CL" <www-cl@ai.mit.edu>,
        "CLIM" <clim@bbn.com>, "Common Lisp" <common-lisp@ai.sri.com>,
        "SLUG" <slug@ai.sri.com>, "Lisp Users" <alu@ai.sri.com>

Lisp Developers and Satisfied Users,

The renaissance of Lisp is underway.  The use of Lisp is once again
expanding, with successful applications in advanced video game development,
advanced web server development, factory scheduling, VLSI computer-aided
design, Gulf War logistics, and many other domains.

Lisp is regaining favor in government circles.  There will be a U.S. House of
Representatives Subcommittee meeting this Wednesday, February 26 to discuss
the strategic importance of the Lisp programming language to the national
economy.  Attendees include Olivier Clarisse and Byron Davies representing
the Association of Lisp Users (ALU), Hazem Sayed of Digitool representing
Lisp software suppliers, and Dr. James Gatzka, who has been carrying the Lisp
cause to his many friends in all branches of the U.S. government.  (Dr.
Gatzka has also convinced a government agency to commit $200K to support an
expanded ALU Lisp Conference this August, and U.S. Vice President Al Gore to
give the keynote speech at the conference).

This note is a call for action on the part of Lisp developers and their
satisfied customers.  We need you -- and every Lisp person you know -- to
send a fax in support of Lisp to the House Subcommittee for District of
Columbia Affairs.   This Subcommittee has the responsibility for revitalizing
the city of Washington, D.C.  They have been persuaded that Lisp, symbolic
computing technology, and the applications that these make possible, could
provide a key technological boost to this program.  For example, they have
proposed starting four charter schools with Lisp as a component of the
curriculum.

We need to let the Subcommittee know that a broad and committed community of
Lisp developers/users exists.  In your note to the Subcommittee, please
include:

1. Who you are: education, employment, where you live.
2. Your desire to see Lisp and symbolic computing technology flourish, and to
use Lisp in your own work.
3. A successful Lisp application that you are associated with.
4. Your estimate of Lisp as an important strategic technology.

If you have easy fax access, please fax your note to:

House Subcommittee for District of Columbia Affairs
Attn: Roland Gunn
Fax# 202-225-4960.

If it's not easy for you to send a fax, please email your note to
davies@pobox.com and I will pass it along.  Also, pass this request on to
your Lisp colleagues.

One result of this initiative will be increased funding for the continued
development and standardization of Common Lisp and other Lisp dialects.  For
example, with funding likely to be available, the ALU is now planning Lisp
workshops for this summer to focus on Common Lisp standards for
multiprocessing and distributed computing.

This is an opportunity to overrule "worse is better" (Gabriel's explanation
for why C beat Lisp).  Better is better!  And what's better is Lisp.

Thank you for your help.


Byron Davies, Ph.D.
Director, Association of Lisp Users
Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector

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Please note: This is not a call for spamming or letter bombing. Please
write to the House Subcommittee only if you believe Lisp deserves the
 recognition and support of the U.S. Government.
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