Review Feedback

[dblamkins@aol.com]

Oops. Someone ran Peter Wayner's review of Macintosh Common Lisp 2.0 in
MacWorld instead of Unix World. After a few readings of the article, I
guessed that Mr. Wayner is primarily a Unix user who just happened to stumble
upon MCL, and treated it as a curiosity. He emphasized the portability of MCL
code to Unix platforms and the lack of CLIM, which is a completely separate
product. CLIM is a different GUI that probably wouldn't be comfortable for a
Mac user; I can't imagine a real Mac software developer insisting on CLIM
support.

Mr. Wayner thinks the editor is the core of the MCL environment; this is also
a very Unix-centered view. Most Mac users will prefer MCL's menu commands at
first and gradually adopt some of the more useful keyboard-based commands.
Mr. Wayner's comment about System 7 compatibility also suggests that he makes
an artifical distinction between the compiler, the interpreter, and the
editor -- while often separate programs in a Unix Lisp environment, they're
completely integrated in MCL.

Another point: When was the last time you read a review of a Macintosh
program development environment that didn't mention either Toolbox access or
an application framework? MCL has both, and they're done very nicely. MCL
gives you all the tools you need to develop double-clickable Macintosh
applications.

Tech support should also be given fair consideration. Apple's online support
for MCL is exemplary. The developers are active on both AppleLink and the
Internet, and provide genuinely helpful responses not only to bug reports but
also to calls for help or clarification.

I think it's a shame to allot a scant 300 words to a review of a complex
product that comes with nearly 2,000 pages of documentation; doubly so
because so much of the article was given to gratuitous mention of other
vendors and platforms. Compared to the few competitive Macintosh programming
environments (MPW and the THINK products), I'd give Macintosh Common Lisp a
five-star rating.

David B. Lamkins
25 Sutcliffe Ave.
Canton, MA 02021
617-828-2322