Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sri-unix!Wholey@CMU-CS-C.ARPA
From: Wholey@CMU-CS-C.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Common Lisp
Message-ID: <12686@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-Aug-84 15:42:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.12686
Posted: Mon Aug 20 15:42:00 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 23-Aug-84 02:04:23 EDT
Lines: 37

From:  Skef Wholey 

    From: weeks%ucbpopuli.CC@Berkeley (Harry Weeks)
    Subject: Common Lisp.

        ... DEC developed Common Lisp at CMU using its money and
            apparently many of its own personnel, so they own
            the code developed.

DEC's Common Lisp was based on Spice Lisp -- a portable Common Lisp
implementation (written almost entirely in Common Lisp) for personal
workstations.  The Spice Lisp code is in the public domain, but the
VAX-specific compiler and runtime code is owned by DEC.  They have certainly
made big changes even in the Lisp-level code so that our sources may be very
different today, but most of the work done at CMU was on a portable,
public-domain implementation.

Perq Systems is (or will be) selling Common Lisp for the Perq -- their
implementation IS Spice Lisp, with little or no change.  Right now it is
jointly maintained by Perq and CMU.  Data General has also announced a Common
Lisp (based on Spice Lisp as well).  Symbolics is currently working on a Common
Lisp Compatability Package (CLCP) that is NOT based on Spice Lisp.  Because of
the strong similarity of Common Lisp and Zetalisp, such a compatability package
is feasible.  I've "ported" two large (source code at least 100K characters)
Common Lisp programs from the Perq (in Spice Lisp) to the 3600 (with CLCP) with
almost no modification.

        ... There may be a Common Lisp mailing list (Common-Lisp@SU-AI),
            but I haven't determined this for certain.  I asked to be
            put on the list but haven't heard anything back.

That mailing list was used during the design of Common Lisp and has been pretty
quiet lately except for nit-picking issues implementors worry about.  There is
currently no "Common-Lisp-Users" mailing list, but one could be created if
Common Lisp was deemed inappropriate material for AIList.

--Skef