Re: Slightly Disappointing Review of MCL 2.0 in Oct MacWorld

[Al Reich <reich@AUSTIN.LOCKHEED.COM>]

As an implementation of Common Lisp, Macintosh Common Lisp gets 5
stars from me. MCL was the major reason I bought a Macintosh last
year.

I have been making a living by programming in Common Lisp for the last
seven years.  My work has been on Symbolics, HP, & Sun workstations
using Symbolics and Lucid CLs.  Last year I set out to buy a new
computer for my home.  Until then I had very little experience with
personal computers (PCs, Macs, etc.).  One of my major requirements
for the new computer was that it had to run a relatively affordable,
robust, and well supported implementation of CL.

Over a span of several months, I methodically explored my options:
standard Unix boxes, NeXT, 486s, and Macs, along with a variety of
commercial and public domain implementations of CL.  The Mac with MCL
came out on top.  I bought a Mac IIci 8/230 (w/ external interface
card).  It satisfied my needs wrt CL, price, and performance.

I really like MCL and the Macintosh.  I regularly move files back and
forth between Lucid CL on our Unix workstations at work and MCL on my
Mac at home without problems (other than the usual "system definition"
headaches, but that's a criticism of CL, not MCL).

I didn't read the review of MCL in MacWorld, but if the reviewer
dinged it because it didn't have CLIM, then he must NOT have been
reviewing MCL for what it is - an implementation of Common Lisp - but
rather for what he subjectively thought it should be.  MCL is an
excellent implementation of Common Lisp, and CLIM is not part of CL,
by definition.

I wouldn't have minded actually getting CLIM with MCL, but then I've
got a feeling that it would have cost me "a bit" more.  So much so,
that maybe I'd be using a 486 right now instead of a Mac.

Al Reich

PS - BTW, Info-MCL is a fantastic newsgroup.  The support given to it
     by Apple's people at Cambridge is yet another good reason to buy
     MCL and the Mac.  Keep up the good work.

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