Which Lisp for Windows if not GCL? WAS: foreign language patch for build-index+cl-ppcre branch

On 2/27/2011 9:32 AM, Robert Dodier wrote:
> On 2/27/11, Barton Willis<willisb at unk.edu>  wrote:
>
>> Is Allegro CL a possibility for Windows? If the free Express Edition
>> isn't up to the task, why not the full version of Allegro? Or would a
>> Maxima compiled with Allegro CL be illegal to distribute (due to the
>> way that Maxima gives the user access to CL)?
> I'm not interested in pursuing it.
I think it is pretty clear that Franz Inc would have to do something to 
change
the situation.  Just off the top of my head -- if they chose to do so, they
could take a copy of the current release, make an Allegro Maxima
installer , or executable, (or a dll or whatever it might be called)
and post it for download on sourceforge or somewhere else.
(Technically they could have done so at any time in the past few decades.)
The only technical issues I am aware of have to do with interfacing with
plotting and graphical front ends, and I suspect that those would
be simple for someone who understood the issues at all.)

If Franz pursues it, it presumably would be done. If not, I agree
that it is not sufficiently interesting for others to distribute Maxima 
on Allegro.

Just to be clear -- there are lots of other facets of Allegro that could
be used with Maxima to assist programmers, users, etc that go beyond
what is available in GCL -- including foreign function stuff, web stuff,
database stuff , IDE, unicode, ---etc etc.   But that is probably not 
compelling
for most people, and to some extent CCL or other non-GCL lisps
provide a step up from GCL in some respects, too.


> Express Edition won't compile the SLATEC stuff (functions
> too big, some limitation exceeded), full version costs money,
> for either the free or full version there are license problems.
>
> As ever, you or anyone else is free to build packages
> with Allegro and distribute them as you wish.
>
> FWIW
>
> Robert Dodier