If someone has a program in C or Fortran which takes as input
a few integers and/or floats and returns, after some substantial
computation, a float, an integers, or an array of these, then it should
be possible to link this to maxima easily via foreign function
calls, and not ever worry about lisp's speed.
For a random number generator you might even produce an array
of a whole bunch of these from one call.
An idea which really capitalizes on the fact that we are
using lisp and maxima as open source is that we can patch in
any old stuff from a "subset domain". Thus any numerical
code should be simple. Octave, a Matlab clone, could be
swallowed whole, I think.
For example, over the weekend I tried out (successfully) loading
gmp 3.0 (gnu multiple precision) into a lisp. Interestingly, I
did NOT need the source for gmp. I loaded a dll. All i needed
was the documentation for the entry points.
Other features which come free from other peoples' lisp libraries
include network socket code, html generation.
The major hassle in my view in doing this is that other peoples' code
may not work on all relevant platforms, or may be subject to random
fluctuations. E.g. incompatible changes in interfaces, legal status,
etc.
RJF