Conference turris::languages

As far as I know there is no product we can discuss with Customers.

For DEC people, here is a copy of note 72 from VORTEX::SYS$NOTES:ENETKITS:
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  21-FEB-1984 16:50           BACH::PIERSON     

    A version of VAX LISP is available for use by internal sites
    with access to the engineering net.  If you want to use VAX LISP,
    copy the following files:

	BACH::LISP$KIT:LISP010.A   - A VMSINSTAL save set
        BACH::LISP$KIT:LISPUSG.MEM - A preliminary User's Guide 
        BACH::LISP$KIT:LISPINS.MEM - A preliminary Installation Guide

    Please read the Installation Guide since it not only explains how
    to install VAX LISP but also describes important system parameters,
    process quotas and logical names which need to be set up to use
    VAX LISP.

    The main reference manual for VAX LISP is the "Common Lisp
    Reference Manual" written by Guy Steele and soon to published by
    DEC PRESS.  I will send you a copy of the Reference Manual if
    you need one.  It is only available as hard copy and cannot be
    reproduced.  Please do not ask for one if you do not intend to
    use VAX LISP.  Send mail to BACH::BROWN if you need a Reference
    Manual.  Be sure to include your mail stop.

    If you discover bugs in VAX LISP, please report them by sending mail
    to BACH::LISP.  We do not have time to respond to each bug report,
    but we will read this mail and fix the bugs you find.  Another
    baselevel of VAX LISP will be made available in about eight weeks.

    VAX LISP is not an announced product and cannot be given to or
    discussed with non-DIGITAL employees.

    Gary Brown

------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE DO NOT DISCUSS THIS WITH OUTSIDE PEOPLE!

Andy

	VAX Lisp is being developed in Hudson (Mass. or NH?).  I don't know if
it's released yet, but it will be soon (or so I'm told).  I think the person to
contact is BACH::BROWN.
		<_Jym_>

	If you wait two weeks, VAX LISP will be officially announced at Spring
	DECUS in Cincinatti on June 4.  It's currently nearing the end of it's
	field test.  The product will include:

		o A Common-LISP interpreter
		o Common-LISP compiler
		o LISP-oriented text editor
		o LISP debugger
		o LISP prettyprinter
		o Call-out to routines written in other languages,
		  access to system services, facility for defining
		  non-LISP data structures.

	In Europe, contact Brian Rees (GVAMDB::REES) and Mike Glantz
	(ISOLA::GLANTZ) for information regarding the availability of
	the LISP product there.  Brian is in charge of European AI
	marketing, and Mike is working on LISP internationalization.

	-- Bill Barabash
	   AI Technology Group
	   Hudson, MA

Now for the most important question:  Has DEC Press begun shipping the
Common Lisp manual yet?

	Apparently some are printed.  Gary (BACH::) Brown sent one to me
yesterday.
		<_Jym_>

Some VAX LISP documents are now available.

Digital Press has published COMMON LISP: The Language. You can get it by
ordering number EY-00031-DP. List price is $22, transfer cost is $9.

The VAX LISP Product Bulletin should now be available from P&CS in
Northboro. The order number is ED-30087-74. It is scheduled to be sent to
the normal sales distribution: one copy to each rep, 50 to each literature
contact.

Besides VAX Lisp, I've recently seen references to XLISP and Interlisp
for VMS.  Does anyone know where these alternatives come from and how
they compare with our product?

Don.

	The following is from ROLL::SYS$NOTES:USENET.NOT concerning
	XLISP.

============================================================================


  25-JUL-1984 09:40           GVASA::LUGRIN      


I have read a news (dated JULY 20),  saying that sources of XLISP (in C)
were posted to net.source.  I do not subscribe this group.   Did anybody
receive it and still have it?

Jean-Marc

============================================================================

			     Response 1 or 2

  25-JUL-1984 12:12           LOGIC::PUDER       


Yes, I have it. Anyone who wants it, MAIL me.

	Karl.

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			     Response 2 or 2

  25-JUL-1984 22:26           PARROT::GOUTAL      

Also, there is a set of sources in

	GLIVET::SYS$SYSDEVICE:[PUBLIC.XLISP...]

I'm not sure about what's in the lower subdirectories.
If you have questions for the author (David Betz) of XLISP,
or its successor, OBLISP, send mail to:

	RHEA::DECWRL::"decvax!sii!hei44!betz"

(or however those quotes are supposed to be.)

XLISP is a public-domain dialect of lisp that runs on PDP-11's
under Decus C, Vaxen, and a bunch of CP/M machines.  XLISP also
has some extensions for object-oriented programming (Smalltalk).
The person who did it, Dave Betz, left Dec last December.  The
files are stored in

	GLIVET::SYS$SYSDEVICE:[PUBLIC.XLISP]

Dave also did a small database manager, stored in 

	GLIVET::SYS$SYSDEVICE:[PUBLIC.SDB]

Note: the Toolshed listing for XLISP is incorrect.
I have a copy of both distributions if the have
disappeared from GLIVET::

Martin.

	There's also NIL (New Implementation of Lisp), brought to you by
MIT.  It's supposed to be like the TOPS-20 EMACS/MACLISP environment.  I
played with it a little, but I can't really say how it compares with VAX
Lisp.
	I do know that they aren't too clever with VMS...for example,
their EMACS uses PASSTHRU mode (to make control characters like ^Y a-
vailable) but they didn't know they could set up a mailbox to capture
broadcast messages...
		<_Jym_>

Just in case anyone cares, there are versions of both INTERLISP and MACLISP
available on SPIT20 -- "The ONLY -20 at Spit Brook Road".

mark