4 ms·

I think it’s wonderful to think McCLIM but it’s important to note that so much of the value of the Lisp machine’s interface is derived from (1) the OS level int

I think it’s wonderful to think McCLIM but it’s important to note that so much of the value of the Lisp machine’s interface is derived from (1) the OS level integration of the dynamic language, (2) the single-process aspect (everything lives in the same memory space, all objects can interact without serialization, and (3) the fact that developers thought that documentation and interaction were a true part—a first class citizen—of the development of their software. I guess this blurs into the user experience. The interface, which McCLIM is based on, gives a lot of the widgets and interaction modes you need for something like a Lisp machine experience, but you really need your entire development and end-user environment to be built up with the above points as well.

lispm 7y ago
The idea is that McCLIM is a base and that there are so many applications (like a listener) that it approaches an actual development environment.
lokedhs 7y ago
If you run everything in your Lisp image, on top of McCLIM then you have that experience. I kind of try to illustrate that in the video I linked. Every object is that is displayed is a Lisp object such as the individual parts of Maxima expressions. You can see the underlying Lisp expression after the Lisp listener window is opened. One major component that is missing is a good editor that takes advantage of all of this. There is Climacs, which is actually quite powerful but it has issues. There is also other efforts, including one by myself but nothing is really ready for production. This is an area where some interested developers could make a huge difference.
- reikonomusha 7y ago
  I would say you could get it, but loading up a Lisp image doesn’t give you it for free. Folks (like yourself!) need to build actual applications in CLIM, or better yet, an operating system whose UI is driven by something like CLIM.

lispm 7y ago

The idea is that McCLIM is a base and that there are so many applications (like a listener) that it approaches an actual development environment.

lokedhs 7y ago

If you run everything in your Lisp image, on top of McCLIM then you have that experience. I kind of try to illustrate that in the video I linked. Every object is that is displayed is a Lisp object such as the individual parts of Maxima expressions. You can see the underlying Lisp expression after the Lisp listener window is opened. One major component that is missing is a good editor that takes advantage of all of this. There is Climacs, which is actually quite powerful but it has issues. There is also other efforts, including one by myself but nothing is really ready for production. This is an area where some interested developers could make a huge difference.

reikonomusha 7y ago
I would say you could get it, but loading up a Lisp image doesn’t give you it for free. Folks (like yourself!) need to build actual applications in CLIM, or better yet, an operating system whose UI is driven by something like CLIM.