🚀 go-pugleaf

;;Reed Little writes: 
;;i miss my symbolics.  is there a clos implementation & development
;;environment available for "standard" architectures (sparc & hp specifically)
;;i need such things as a class examiner (like the symbolics flavor examiner),
;;good debugger, network capability, multi-processes, good inter-process
;;communication (both on the same box and other boxes on the network), and 
;;a file cm/cc system.  thanks.

We all miss our Symbolics (even if we never worked with one).  The concept
of window and mouse oriented programming tools integrated with the run-time
and the editing environment is without question a big winner.  Symbolics
was a leader and inovator in the field.  But Lisp on general-purpose
architectures has been catching up.  Each of the major Lisp suppliers has
an entry in the field:  Harlequin has Lispworks, Franz has Composer, and
Lucid has XLT.  As the principal developer of one of these (XLT) I would
like to reply that we are attempting to satisfy Mr. Little's needs and
wishes.

XLT is a set of advanced Lisp an CLOS programming tools for Lucid Common 
Lisp.  It is becoming available on a variety of "standard" architectures,
including Sparc, RS6000, HP700/800 and Decsystem.  It includes a range 
of facilities which are (very briefly) mentioned below:

	Run-Time Tools
	 Data Inspectors for all Common Lisp data types
	  Inspect and modify all components with simple
	  mouse gestures
	 CLOS Inspectors specially adapted to the OO world
	  Instance inspector to view and modify all slots
	  Class, Generic Function and Method viewers
	  Class Browser to show a graphic view of the class
	   hierarchy
	 Debugging Tools
	  Stack Inspector shows the call chain in one Lisp
	   sub-process, and allow various restart actions
	  Frame Inspector to view and modify arguments and
	   local variables
	  Visual Stepper
	  
	Source-Level Tools
	 Program Analyzer
	 Program Follower
	  Control Graph
	  Data Flow Graph
	  Class and Accessor usage
	 Defsys facility

	Interface to GNU Emacs
	 Network connection provides a dynamic peer-to-peer interface
	  between Lucid Common Lisp and GNU Emacs
	 Emacs commands to fetch arglist, description, macroexpanded
	  form;  send form(s) to be evaluated, compiled, inspected.
	 Mouse click in inspector can bring up source in 
	  Emacs buffer.

As the developer of XLT, I may be somewhat biased when I claim that 
Lisp environments on gp architectures have achieved most of the
functionality of their dedicated ancestors and rivals.  In addition,
portability of code among a wide variety of platforms allows one to
exploit more effectively todays heterogenous networked computing 
environment.

Sincerely,    Martin Mikelsons <mm@lucid.com> (415)329-8400 x5533
              Lucid, Inc., 707 Laurel Street, Menlo Park CA 94025