Why LispOS?

[Chris Bitmead]

Rodrigo Ventura wrote:

>         Going to the point: if you eliminate the UNIX API, what is
> left? You ask what functionality am I worried to lose? Simply the
> possibility to access any UNIX device by the means of the syscalls
> API. 

I guess the point is, why are you so concerned about accessing
UNIX devices?

>         Yeah! That would be great! I assumed it was difficult. Do you
> see a way of doing that without jeopardizing all UNIX flexibility and
> functionality? Let's hear it.

Well it's really the persistent object store thing again. The
only thing you need is (commit), and some people reckon you might
not even need that.

>         I concede that Xlib can be simple after reading tons and tons
> of docs. And after several months without thinking about Xlib, is it
> possible to get back to it easly? Although I confess my ignorance on
> Xlib internals.

If your aim is to draw a line or a circle on the screen, then it
is simple. But is a low level abstraction. Quite a good one
really, but a low level one nevertheless.

>         Good point. To make the formating string, not a string but a
> list, is a neat idea! I like it! It can be some sort of sub-language,
> but based on lists. And it could be easly expanded. Nice idea. Really
> like it!

Somebody also invented a list regexp language for Scheme. Can't
remember if it was implemented or not.

-- 
Chris Bitmead
http://www.ans.com.au/~chrisb
mailto:chrisb@ans.com.au