Re: C vs. Lisp

[kanderso@BBN.COM]

  Date: Wed, 23 Jan 91 10:26 EST
  From: Jeffrey Mark Siskind <Qobi@zermatt.lcs.mit.edu>
  Subject: Re: C vs. Lisp 
  To: kanderso@dino.bbn.com, barmar@think.com
  cc: KMP@stony-brook.scrc.symbolics.com, 
      gooch@tijeras.sw-sw.dialnet.symbolics.com, magerman@neon.stanford.edu, 
      SLUG@warbucks.ai.sri.com, Qobi@ai.mit.edu
  
  As an aside, I have several questions:
  
  1. What is the latest version of xlisp that is available? I have sources
  for 2.0 but those are dated from several years ago.
  
  2. Does anybody know where I can get a precompiled version of the latest
  version of xlisp for MSDOS? I just bought a laptop and don't have a C compiler
  for it.
  
  3. If I couldn't get a precompiled version of xlisp for MSDOS, does anybody
  have any recommendations as to which C compiler to buy? What are the
  price/performace/feature distinctions considering that the main reason of
  purchase would be to compile xlisp, though I might do some C programming on
  the side?
  
  4. What is siod and where can I get a copy?

Sorry to take so long to reply to this.  Here is some mail on how to get
xlisp (actually xlibstat that contains xlisp 2.1) and siod.

k
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 91 17:02:56 -0500
From: statlibd@temper.stat.cmu.edu (Statlib Server)
Message-Id: <9101082202.AA28183@temper.stat.cmu.edu>
To: kanderso@DINO.BBN.COM
Subject: send README from xlispstat

*** from statlib, Tue Jan  8 17:02:55 EST 1991 ***
Lisp-Stat is an extensible environment for statistical computing and
dynamic graphics based on the Lisp language.  XLISP-STAT is a version
of Lisp-Stat based on a dialect of Lisp called XLISP.

Originally developed for the Apple Macintosh, XLISP-STAT is now also
available for UNIX workstations using the X11 window system and for
use on Sun workstations running suntools. A version for the Commodore
Amiga is available as well. To facilitate statistical computations
standard Lisp functions for addition, logarithms, etc., have been
modified to operate on lists and arrays of numbers, and a number of
basic statistical functions have been added.  Many of these functions
have been written in Lisp, and additional functions can be added
easily by a user.  Several basic forms of plots, including histograms,
scatterplots, rotatable plots and scatterplot matrices are provided.
These plots support various forms of interactive highlighting
operations and can be linked so points highlighted in one plot will be
highlighted in all linked plots.  Interactions with the plots are
controlled by the mouse, menus and dialog boxes. An object-oriented
programming system is used to allow menus, dialogs, and the response
to mouse actions to be customized.

If you have access to anonymous ftp over the internet you can obtain
the most recent version of the XLISP-STAT source code for the
UNIX and Macintosh versions from umnstat.stat.umn.edu (128.101.51.1).
Executable versions for the Macintosh are available by anonymous ftp
as well. All files are located in the directory pub/xlispstat.

From: gjc@paradigm.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: new version of SIOD (Scheme in one Day) available
Date: 14 Jun 90 14:24:51 GMT
Organization: Paradigm Associates Inc, Cambridge MA

SIOD version 2.4 is now available.

What is SIOD? It is an extremely small scheme implementation in C
arranged as set of subroutines that can be called from any main
program for the purpose of introducing an interpreted extension
language. 

How small is it? Compiling using the VAX/VMS C compiler results in a
total of 16333 bytes of executable code.

What features? 
 * Lisp calls C and C calls lisp transparently
 * no hassle in C coded functions due to GC or EVAL considerations.
 * ability to hook into the read-eval-print loop without modifying the code.
 * ability to extend the datatypes without modifying the code.
 * mark-and-sweep or stop-and-copy GC selectable at runtime.
 * readmacros
 * macros
 * backquote (quasi-quote)
 * optionally loadable pratt (infix-language) parser

Platforms?
 * VAX/VMS * VAX UNIX * SUN-3 * SUN-4 * AMIGA * MACINTOSH * MIPS * CRAY

Availability?

Anonymous FTP to BU.EDU (128.197.2.6), cd to users/gjc and get siod-v2.4-shar

Copyright? Has MIT/X-WINDOWS style copyright notice. Free for any purpose,
including commercial use.