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The names “Medley”, "Interlisp-D", “Interlisp.org”, “Common Lisp”, etc. are often used in confusing ways. We’re talking about a lot of different things that evolved over decades. These are cemented in by usage in different publications over time. We hope this glossary of terms will help.
Alto Lisp : An (unsuccessful) attempt to build a Lisp-based OS for running Interlisp on an Alto
Carol, Fugue, Harmony, Intermezzo, Koto, Lyric, Medley : Named releases of Interlisp-D. All are obsolete except Medley.
Common Lisp : The subject of a 10-year standards process to converge multiple dialects of the Lisp language. Strong influences from many Lisp dialects, including Interlisp.
Common Lisp the Language : Book by Guy Steele with two editions:
- CLtL1 – edition 1, 465 pages
- CLtL2 – second edition, 1029 pages
Common Lisp dpANS : The ANSI Standard for Common Lisp
Starting with the Lyric release of Interlisp-D and then the Medley release, the implementation of Medley included implementations of Common Lisp (CLtL 1) as well as the Interlisp dialect in a single development environment; this was made possible by using the (Common Lisp) “package” feature to allow both dialects to be intermixed.
Dfasl : A compiled form of Medley Interlisp files.
DLISP : By Warren Teitelman: a first attempt at building a “Display” (GUI) with Interlisp running on Maxc (A PDP-10 clone) a Xerox Alto as a graphics terminal connected to it via Ethernet.`
Dorado Lisp : The reimplementation of the AltoLisp microcode on the Dorado – a research prototype.
Fugue : An obsolete named release of Interlisp-D.
Harmony : An obsolete named release of Interlisp-D.
Intermezzo : An obsolete named release of Interlisp-D.
Interlisp : A GitHub “organization” with ~20 repositories, see https://github.com/Interlisp : Both a language and, in some cases, the implementation of that language. Usually used with some other wording or refinement
Interlisp: The Language and its usage : A book by Steve Kaisler which describes Interlisp of the 1970s & 80s
Interlisp.org : A “domain name”, used for some web sites and email addresses
- https://interlisp.org – the address of the main web site
- https://online.interlisp.org – the address of a service that lets you run Medley
- [email protected] - an email address of a group that can respond to questions
Interlisp-10 : The first implementation of “Interlisp” for the DEC PDP-10 / Tenex
Interlisp-360 : Implemention of Interlisp for the IBM-360
Interlisp-D : What Dorado Lisp became. The D stood for both “Display” and “D-machine”. An implementation of
- Interlisp the language
- The Interlisp programming tools
- A Graphical User interface to Interlisp programming development
- A large number of tools, utilities, games, screen-savers
- A Lisp-based operating system for D-machines which, when coupled with microcode implementation of a Virtual Machine, allowed the D-machines to operate as a personal workstation. Each D-machine had its own microcode with different configurations and micro-instructions.
Interlisp-VAX : Implementation of Interlisp for Digitial Equipment Corporation VAX systems
InterlispOrg : A California-registered non-profit organization (DBA Interlisp.org) Established August 2021. 501c3 EIN 87-2528093 California registered charity CT0278267. President Larry Masinter, Treasurer Ron Kaplan, Secretary Herb Jellinek.
Koto : An obsolete named releases of Interlisp-D.
Lcom : Used as a file ending, xxx.lcom, for compiled Medley files.
Lyric : An obsolete named releases of Interlisp-D.
Medley : The final named release of Interlisp-D.
Medley 1.0, Medley 2.01, Medley 3.5 numbered releases of Interlisp-D : At some point the name Interlisp-D was retired and Medley used to name the software.
Maiko : An implementation of the functions of the microcode D-machine, but written in C for the Sun Microsystems (RISC-like) SPARC processor workstation, initially developed by Fuji Xerox. Subsequently ported to little-endian processors and other operating systems.
SDL : Structured Design Language
Sysout : A file containing the saved state of Interlisp virtual memroy
X11 : The X Window System
BBN : Boston consultancy which (late 60s) implemented BBN Lisp and the Tenex operating system.
Xerox PARC or just PARC : Palo Alto Research Center, which continued in collaboration with BBN on (renamed) Interlisp. PARC developed the Alto and Dorado. Now part of SRI International.
SRI International : non-profit scientific R & D institute
Xerox Electro-Optical Systems (XEOS) : Xerox division supporting classified customers
Xerox Artificial Intelligence Systems (XAIS) : The division working to commercialize Xerox Workstations running Interlisp-D.
Rank Xerox : Xerox affiliate in charge of delivering Interlisp-D workstations in Europe
Fuji Xerox : Xerox affiliate – joint project of Rank Xerox and Fuji Photo Film company.
Envos : Company founded in 198x to take on the Lisp business from Xerox. Closed within 10 months and folded back to Xerox.
Venue : Smaller company, started by John Sybalsky; it had the license to create and distribute derivative works of Maiko and Medley Venue ceased operations… … some history …. Software recovered from late 90s…. Fuji Xerox worked with John into the 90s with ports and addons and other software….
Medley Interlisp Project : Began late 2010’s with Nick Briggs getting Maiko to run on MacOS. In earnest in 2020 with start of weekly Zoom meetings, getting it to run on Linux in a VM and getting the Interlisp and LispCore google groups and ….