macrakis@harvard.ARPA (Stavros Macrakis) (02/21/85)
> There are many...[DoD] directives. The Ada directive mostly > applies to "embedded systems", [namely] operating systems, compilers,... Embedded computer systems (ECS), actually, are computers which are an integral part of a larger operational system. This means computers inside tanks, radars, cameras, and microwave ovens.... Compilers are rarely found inside ECS's. > For AI research, expert systems, command and control systems > using AI techniques, etc. the language of DoD choice is Common Lisp. ... > R Mark Chilenskas decvax!genrad!panda!rmc The Ada directive says nothing at all about research, only operational systems. > > There is an escape clause [allowing] languages to be used for special > > applications where there is good reason.... At the Common Lisp > > conference it was said that the ARPA Strategic Computing project would > > [use] Common Lisp. > I think that far too much emphasis has been placed on the need for LISP > in AI work. -- DJSolomon@watdaisy Be that as it may (and I think you're mostly right), I wonder to what extent Lisp will be used in operational systems even if prototypes are built in Lisp. As a hard-core ECS programmer once told me, you can't afford a stack overflow during your aircraft carrier landing (which means they calculate maximum stack size ahead of time, or alteratively use only static storage (!)), much less a free storage overflow.... I suspect that if Lisp programs (AI or not) make it into the embedded world, they will be either nonessential programs or will have been re-analyzed and quite likely re-programmed anyway: the Lisp version will be used as a prototype. -s