AI "Expert"

[fleming@utdallas.edu (Mike Fleming)]

I rarely read AI Expert because of its pervasive anti-Lisp Machine bias. It
gets tiresome to constantly hear Lisp Machines referred to as things of the
past. Very few of the mags readers have any idea what they are missing.
Richard Gabriel grudgingly states that "Even today you could argue that 
that the Symbolics programming environment represents the state of the art."
Is there anything that comes close? I work in graphics with the S-products,
and I have never seen anything remotely close to my ability to add function-
ality. I can do in the blink of an eye what would take a programmer with 
access to, and intimate knowledge of the source code hours to accomplish.
in any other system.
So, later in the magazine they discuss LISP systems for the Mac and do not
even mention the availability of MacIvory. Where is their logic? The only
thing I can think of is that MacIvory is expensive. It is, for a hobbyist,
but the productivity gains of using Genera easily justify the expense in a
commercial setting.
I think I'll go back to not reading AI 
Expert.
Michael Fleming