Re: A Dylan implemented on Common Lisp

[ok@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au (Richard A. O'Keefe)]

In article <gclement-0903950833460001@155.50.21.58> gclement@keps.com (Geoffrey Clements) writes:
>In Dylan I see a language that feels like a static language that has
>borrowed all the best features of Lisp. This makes it attractive as a more
>general programming language. A language like C makes a good application
>programming language. But try writting an expert system in it. Conversely,
>Lisp is a great language to write AI type programs in. But try writing a
>word processor with it. 

My favourite editor was written in a language called POP-2, which you can
think of as Lisp with Pascal syntax.  Recently, I have been doing some
statistical calculations.  What language have I been using?  Xlisp-Stat.
[See "Lisp-Stat, an Object-Oriented Environment for Statistical Computing
and Dynamic Graphics"; Luke Tierney; published by Wiley in 1990.]
One reason for using it:  it's free.
Another reason for using it:  I can use it on a PC, Mac, or UNIX+X system,
with none of the nasty porting problems I get with C code.  (Note in
particular, the graphics stuff may not be flashy, but it's the _same_ on
all platforms.  I don't have to know X or Mac Toolbox to program it.)
Another reason for using it:  the system is extensible.  I can easily build
new stuff using old components.
Another reason for using it:  I _have_ written some of the stuff in C, but
all things considered, I've got more done in less time using XlispStat
on a macintosh (and I'm using the old version without even the byte-code
compiler, so we're talking _interpreted_ lisp on a 68020 here) than using
optimised C on a big SPARC.  My time is as important as the computer's.

As for word processors specifically, the Xerox D-machines running Interlisp
(one integrated environment) included a word processor called TEdit that I
would still use if I could, and that was written entirely in Interlisp.  It
was a very capable component for its size.
-- 
"The complex-type shall be a simple-type."  ISO 10206:1991 (Extended Pascal)
Richard A. O'Keefe; http://www.cs.rmit.edu.au/~ok; RMIT Comp.Sci.