Re: [open-axiom-devel] [Reduce-algebra-developers] Lisp systems...

[Gabriel D. R. <gd...@in...>]

On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 4:11 PM, Arthur Norman <ac...@ca...> wrote:
> The CSL Lisp system was developed in around 1991-2, and a report on it was
> published at DISCO '93 - then appearing in J Symb Comp in 1995. So it is
> around 20 years old. So I have been looking at a fairly major re-work of
> lots of it. This message is to check if anybody has time, energy and
> inclination to join in or at least advise. I am not putting my fragments
> on sourceforge at this stage because they are a bit fragmentary thus far!
>
> My road map so far has a whole bunch of changes as from CSL:
>
> (1) Sources in C++ not C. Well as many as possible are unchanged as much
> as possible, but all the files are *.cpp and are compiled using g++.
> (2) I have designed a conservative incremental garbage collector that will
> make putting in native compilation much easier than it was when I needed
> to live with a precise garbage collector and C-compatible code.
> (3) There is also the bulk of the design of how to make the Lisp support
> threads. The current question I need to resolve is what to do about
> property lists...
> (4) Despite reservations about it, the Common Lisp-like aspects of the new
> Lisp will be more to the fore than they were with CSL.
> (5) The GUI will use wxWidgets not FOX, which among other things will let
> it support the Macintosh directly rather than just via X11.
>
> The current state is that I have the first 60K lines of C from CSL sort of
> adapted, and I can sometimes do read-eval-print on simple things. But
> there is a lot to do and a bit of help or encouragement would be jolly
> welcome...  Anybody keen to join in?
>
>            Arthur

Hi Arthur,

One the struggles I've faced since working on the open source version of
AXIOM is getting free Lisp systems work flawlessly everywhere a C++
is available.  Working on AXIOM only has strengthen my views on Lisp
(including Common Lisp), but in ways Lisp enthusiasts would not welcome...

I would be interested in a portable, open source, efficient Lisp system
that integrates pretty well C++ -- my primary interest in this is for OpenAxiom
which is already a mixture of Spad, C++, and Lisp.

Best,

-- Gaby