Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!gatech!news.sprintlink.net!demon!uknet!newsfeed.ed.ac.uk!edcogsci!colin
From: colin@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Colin Matheson)
Subject: Re: Allegro CL PC
Message-ID: <D94rFr.53u@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Centre for Cognitive Science, Edinburgh, UK
References: <3ptoqf$rdc@agate.berkeley.edu> <3pu5el$dbd@blackbird.afit.af.mil>
Date: Thu, 25 May 1995 10:50:12 GMT
Lines: 49

In article <3pu5el$dbd@blackbird.afit.af.mil> fkilpatr@afit.af.mil writes:
>parr@dartmoor.CS.Berkeley.EDU (Ron Parr) wrote:
>
>>I would like to hear the experiences of people who are using Allegro
>>CL\PC.  I looked at this product a few years ago and it seemed very rough
>>around edges.  Has it improved?
>
>I've been using the latest version for about a year now and I love it.
>It is much nicer than the Sun Lisp environment I used to work under. 

I recently installed a load of Lisp which was developed under Unix
(CMUCL) on a PC running Allegro.  I was also impressed by the
environment - reminded me of the old Lisp machines in some ways.

>>1.  How is the editor?  Are there file size restrictions?  How closely
>>does it resemble Emacs.

There was a 30K limit on the file size in the version I was running on
Windows NT - that was certainly a pest at times.

>>2.  How fast is it?  Can you compare it to Allegro CL on a fast HP or
>>SPARC workstation?

My code ran at about the same speed (within 5% or so) on a 486 Compaq
portable as it does on the ELC in my office.

>>4.  How robust is it?  Assuming you don't mess with any operating system
>>calls, can you crash Windows from inside of Allegro CL/PC?

It's possible to mess up Lisp, certainly - for instance, I mistyped a
file or directory name using more than 8 characters, and things fell
over completely.  I don't remember Windows crashing, though - we used
DDEs a fair bit with not too much trouble.

>>5.  How compatible is it?
>
>It seems to be very compatible with standard common lisp.  I did find
>one small bug with defining structures, but that's it.

Ditto - I found something unusual using "format", but that was about
it.   Mind you, I tend to stick to very basic Lisp.

Colin

-- 
Colin Matheson                    | Human Communication Research Centre
Phone: +44 131 650 4632           | University of Edinburgh
Fax:   +44 131 650 4587           | 2 Buccleuch Place
Email: Colin.Matheson@ed.ac.uk    | Edinburgh EH8 9LW Scotland
