Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.scheme
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!goldenapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel-eecis!netnews.com!netaxs.com!news-xfer.netaxs.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!howland.erols.net!torn!kwon!watserv3.uwaterloo.ca!undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca!not-for-mail
From: papresco@csclub.uwaterloo.ca (Paul Prescod)
Subject: Re: Will Java VM kill Lisp?  How to fight it.
Sender: news@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca (news spool owner)
Message-ID: <E8DI0v.27D@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 1997 13:41:18 GMT
X-Newsposter: Pnews 4.0-test50 (13 Dec 96)
References: <5ibcks$hvf$1@Jupiter.Mcs.Net> <ppwbu7q5rwz.fsf@m10-250-1.mit.edu> <5ie1th$ala$1@Venus.mcs.net> <5iefbj$7ti$1@sparky.franz.com>
Nntp-Posting-Host: calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca
Organization: University of Waterloo Computer Science Club
Lines: 31
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.lisp:26539 comp.lang.scheme:19425

In article <5iefbj$7ti$1@sparky.franz.com>, Kelly Murray <kem@franz.com> wrote:
>The right technical solution for portability and speed
>is to simply send LISP SOURCE CODE to the client.  
>By using ascii text compression, it is even MORE compact
>than java byte codes.  As high-level source code,
>there is no "security" nonsense like JVM must do,
>the lisp functions that can be executed on the client would
>simply be "safe".  The client can just interpret the source code
>directly, or do a byte-compile, or do a native code compile.

What do you mean by no "security nonsense?" Java can send data back to the
server that it came from but not other servers. This cannot be implemented
in Lisp without the same "security nonsense" that checks the server that 
the code comes from and the server that the user is trying to make a 
connection to.

Anyhow, you can dream of having a Lisp interpreter on every client, but it
isn't going to happen.

>The Java VM will not kill Lisp, certainly not any more
>than it is seen as dead already.  
>In fact, it gives Lisp more visibility.  
>In my view, it's not what's running on the client anyway, 
>all the real programming work is going to run on the server,
>and there Lisp can actually win.

If Lisp people really believe that the client is unimportant then it is
clear why it is difficult to make a portable GUI in Lisp.

 Paul Prescod

