masinter.pa@XEROX.COM (09/29/88)
Those interested in Lisp standards might be interested in the publication "Lisp Evolution and Standardization", C.Queinnec, J.Chailloux, Eds. Published by IOS Van Diemenstraat 94 1013 CN Amsterdam The Netherlands (In the US and Canada, IOS P.O.Box 2848 Springfield, VA 221152-2848) The publication is the conference proceedings for the First International Workshop on Lisp Evolution and Standardization (1IWoLES) held in Paris last February. Some of the papers are a bit dated already (for example, some of the issues I was worried about in my paper have since been resolved in the standards subcomittees), but I think it gives a good overall view of what's been happening in Lisp Standards. Larry (Perhaps it isn't true that it is hard to hear about things in Europe?) Some specific things that have happened since then is that the X3J13 committee at its June meeting adopted Chapters 1 and 2 of CLOS, and Version 18 of the Condition proposal, as part of the proposed standard. What that means is that we will take it as seriously as CLtL; some changes are being discussed now and others will be entertained. Having X3J13 endorse something doesn't make it a standard -- not until it has actually worked its way through the entire process would that happen. There are also some interactions at ISO in the ISO Lisp standardization effort that might also cause changes. CLX is a Common Lisp interface to the X windowing protocol, which itself is a moving target, with a fairly substantial consortium considering changes, additions, enhancements. CLUE is a Common Lisp "User Environment"-- a kind of window toolkit. I am doing its authors a disservice attempting to summarize it or its status. However, the issue on portability of windowing systems and programs that interact with them is that the whole industry is in a state of uproar over windowing systems, networking protocols, look and feel, display hardware and capabilities. It seems unlikely that Lisp will be able to lead the rest of industry by very much.