HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: lynch@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Richard Lynch)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: sndstartfileplay asynchronous
Date: 15 Oct 92 20:40:40 GMT
Original-To: info-mcl@cambridge.apple.com


(this is rich's officemate hassling ya...)

IMVI says sndstartfileplay should work asynchronously... i get about
a second of sound and then it cuts out.  clues?
i'm on a IIci, playing uncompressed sound files.

jorn barger
From: markt@dgp.toronto.edu ("Mark A. Tapia")
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: CL condition system
Date: 15 Oct 92 16:10:11 GMT
Original-To: info-mcl@cambridge.apple.com

In comp.lang.lisp, I responded to a question about a problem in Allegro Lisp 
in which the condition system provides for the zero-divide condition,
an empty arithmetic-error-operation and a null arithmetic-error-operands.

The same problem occurs in MCL:

(defun test-cond (expression)
  (handler-case (eval expression)
    (arithmetic-error (condition)
                      (values (arithmetic-error-operation condition)
                              (arithmetic-error-operands condition)))))

(test-cond '(/ 3 0))
nil
nil

    For a division by zero condition, the erroneous operand is always 0.
    There are no arithmetic-error-operands for this condition.
 
    You cannot access the actual arithmetic operands for the following
    conditions:
       division-by-zero
       floating-point-overflow
       floating-point-underflow
 
Kent M Pitman <KMP@STONY-BROOK.SCRC.Symbolics.COM> responds:
  Not so.  dpANS CL says plainly the class precedence list of all three contains
  ARITHMETIC-ERROR, and every ARITHMETIC-ERROR is expected to have
  ARITHMETIC-ERROR-OPERATION and ARITHMETIC-ERROR-OPERANDS.
 
  It is slightly more vague on what should fill this, but I can tell you that
  the intent was that the implementor would not omit information just because they
  thought it was not useful.  I would regard the MCL behavior as a bug.  If I did
  (/ 3 0), I would expect that if a DIVISION-BY-ZERO error is signaled, then
  the object would have an operator of / (or perhaps of #<Function / ...> or some
  internal subroutine thereof) and operands of (3 0) or perhaps (3), but not ().

Why has MCL set the operand and operator slots in all three of these specific errors
to nil?

For example
(test-cond '(log 0))
also returns null operand and operator slots.

Are there any arithmetic-error-conditions for which the operator and
operands slots are not null?
From: bill@cambridge.apple.com (Bill St. Clair)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: Re: gc
Date: 7 Oct 92 21:43:52 GMT
Full-Name: Bill St. Clair
Original-To: howell@cats.UCSC.EDU
Original-Cc: info-mcl

>Dear Colleagues:
>
>A colleague of mine here and I are working with MCL 2.0 for
>doing real-time MIDI operations.  We use a very fast clock
>which spins very fast waiting for incoming and outgoing MIDI
>events.  This allow for incredible accuracy for example with
>jazz accompaniments which match the tempo and notes of a
>played melodic line.
>
>The problem is that this clock creates immense amounts of
>garbage such that in some cases a GC occurs within 10 seconds.
>We are attempting to clean up the clock but our refinements
>are such that it leads us to believe that even a very clean
>clock will not impede the GC by much.  Is there a way to have
>an incremental GC (i.e. do a little bit a lot of the time
>rather than waiting and then having it take such a damnable
>amount of time to collect)?  We can't just force a GC because
>as you know even if there is nothing to collect it takes over
>a second to function, sometimes even longer.
>
>Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I'm afraid that your only real alternative is to remove all of
the consing from your clock function. If it doesn't cons, the GC
will never need to run. Even the ephemeral GC is likely to slow you down
too much (it can take 1/10 second even on a fast Mac). This is the
approach taken by all real-time Lisp code I have ever heard about,
including HyperLisp: don't cons.
From: lynch@ils.nwu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: Re: Tracing a method
Date: 8 Oct 92 18:55:40 GMT
Original-To: info-mcl@cambridge.apple.com

Thanks for all the help.  As it turns out, I was tracing:
(:method bar (foo t t)) when I shoulda been tracing (:method bar (foo
foobar t))

Apologies for my misunderstanding of this.

Now, however, I have another problem:
Since the function I am calling is being called from click-event-handler,
the trace window comes up with no buttons.

Now I can fix this by eval-enqueueing (sp?) the particular call that needs
to be traced and can get away with it this time (I think), but in code that
was buggy in a manner that was time-dependent, this wouldn't be very
useful.
"TANSTAAFL" Rich lynch@ils.nwu.edu
From: ralex@tigger.cs.colorado.edu (Repenning Alexander)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: Dynamic Change of Mouse Tracking Speed
Date: 10 Oct 92 20:52:41 GMT
Original-To: info-macl@cambridge.apple.com
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]

I am dealing with the visual representation of complex data structures.
I like to experiment with the Mouse Tracking Speed to make it easier
for users to track on important information: "soft snapping".

Is there some simple way to change the mouse tracking speed from MCL?
What I need is a function allowing me to adjust mouse tracking to
speeds like the ones avaivable in the MOUSE CDEV (very slow, ..,
fast).

Any ideas, clues?  

  Thanks,  Alex
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
From: gat@robotics.jpl.nasa.gov
Subject: Request for MIDI code
Reply-To: gat@robotics.jpl.nasa.gov
Organization: JPL 
Distribution: global
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 18:20:03 GMT

 I have discovered the joys of the MIDI manager, and over the weekend
managed to hack up a multitrack MIDI recorder with a dialog interface
in about a day.  (I challenge anyone to duplicate that feat in any other
programming language!)  Anyway, I was going to extend this program with
all sorts of cool new features, but I thought I would find out what other
people have done before I reinvent the wheel, SO: does anyone have any
MCL MIDI code they are willing to share?

Thanks,
Erann Gat
gat@robotics.jpl.nasa.gov

Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
From: york@oakland-hills.lucid.com (Bill York)
Subject: Re: dispatching methods on a class type
Reply-To: York@Lucid.COM
Organization: Lucid, Inc.
Date: 12 Oct 92 14:36:05

In article <1992Oct11.000428.2035@pentagon-gw.army.mil> grant@pentagon-gw.army.mil (Pete Grant) writes:

   In article <9210020306.AA19613@taarna> taarna!kaveh%comback.UUCP@IRO.UMontreal.CA (Kaveh Kardan) writes:
   >
   >I am wondering if there is a way in clos of dispatching methods on a class
   >itself, as opposed to instances of the class.
   >

You can call CLASS-PROTOTYPE on the class to get an instance, upon which
you can then dispatch.
From: bill@cambridge.apple.com (Bill St. Clair)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: Re: documentation string in MCL
Date: 7 Oct 92 16:14:08 GMT
Full-Name: Bill St. Clair
Original-To: staley@carnap.srl.ford.com (Scott M. Staley)
Original-Cc: info-mcl

>Is there a way to have the documentation strings in user defined
>functions, e.g.
>
>(defun foo (x)
>  "Foo computes the foo of x."
> nil)
>
>show up in the nice format that system functions entered in the MCL help
>file show up when using the documentation window? There the args are shown
>and special fonts are used.

First off, you need to compile or evaluate your definitions with
*save-doc-strings* true or your doc strings will not be retained.
This is not the default.

I have prepared a patch that will adds arglists to the information
displayed in the documentation window for a function whose documentation
is not in the "MCL Help" file. It does pretty fonts on the arglist, but
has no way to add fonts to your descriptive text. If you want fonts in
your text, you'll have to add entries to the "MCL Help" file and
use the file "ccl:library;make-help-map.lisp" to recreate the
"MCL Help Map.fasl" file. "ccl:library;make-help-map.lisp" documents
the format of the "MCL Help" file.

If you want the patch that adds arglists to the documentation window
output for user defined functions, ask me for "documentation-patch".
This patch will be part of patch 2 for MCL 2.0.

The patch will work better if you set *save-local-symbols*,
*fasl-save-local-symbols*, and ccl::*save-arglist-info* true.
This will ensure that all of the arglist names are retained (at
some expense in space: 10-20% I believe).
From: alma@cse.uconn.edu (Alma Whitten)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: Accessing Mac System Highlight Color
Date: 15 Oct 92 20:05:02 GMT
Original-To: info-mcl@cambridge.apple.com

How can I find out what color the Highlight Color is 
currently set to in the Mac's Control Panel, from within MCL?

Alma Whitten
alma@cse.uconn.edu
From: mark@cambridge.apple.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: Re: MCL2.0 patch?
Date: 9 Oct 92 06:08:58 GMT
Full-Name: Mark Preece
Original-To: Ranson <ranson@LANNION.cnet.fr>
Original-Cc: info-mcl

>What happened to patch 1 for MCL2.0? A month ago, it was supposed to be avai-
>lable "real soon".
>     Daniel.

Hello Daniel-

A bug was discovered, and a new version of the patch is currently being
tested. 

Note to anybody reading this message who is using the old patch 1 (which
was briefly available for anonymous ftp, although never officially
announced):
My official advice is that you should stop using it. The bugs fixed in
patch 1 were pretty minor, so it's not worth risking an encounter with
patch 1's bug.

Note to everybody: 
Stay tuned: we expect to release the patch and its release notes soon, and
they will be announced here.

Mark Preece
Apple ATG East.
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
From: ags@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Dave Seaman)
Subject: Re: using Lisp in astronomical data analysis
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 16:46:27 GMT

In article <9210091551.AA00750@glen-canyon-dam> pab%glen-canyon-dam@lucid.com writes:

>Sadly the choice of programming language is more a matter of fashion than
>technical merits.  I'm afraid lisp is perceived as the avant-garde fashion
>of the early eighties.  Unfortunately it never made it out of the
>avant-garde and into the mainstream.

The eighties?  Why the eighties? Lisp originated in the fifties, and was in
widespread use when I first encountered it in the early seventies.

-- 
Dave Seaman
ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu
From: mkant+@cs.cmu.edu (Mark Kantrowitz)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: OPS5 for MCL
Date: 16 Oct 92 07:53:37 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.Bw7F9H.BM2.1
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon


The PD OPS5, available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cs.cmu.edu in the directory
  /afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mkant/Public/Lisp/ops5.tar.Z
has been ported to "pure" Common Lisp. I've compiled and tested it in
Allegro, Lucid, and Ibuki (various versions), and a student in the
class I TA has tested it in MCL 2.0.

This version includes several bug fixes intended to make it a bit more
robust. There are also several demo ops5 programs.

--mark
From: moon (David A. Moon)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: Re: floating-point efficiency: Lisp vs. Fortran
Date: 8 Oct 92 16:14:24 GMT
Full-Name: David Moon
Original-To: hmadorf@eso.org
Original-Cc: Simon Spero <ses@sunsite.unc.edu>, info-mcl@cambridge.apple.com,
        info-dylan

> Date: Wed, 07 Oct 92 07:30:35 +0100
> From: hmadorf@eso.org
> ....
> Two versions of the CL code were tested, one without declarations,
> the other fully spiced with declarations. The CL-code was compiled
> with (speed 3) optimization. The Fortran code was not particularly
> optimized. My observations:
> 
> 1. Declarations had little influence on CL-execution efficiency.
> .... (I still have to check out 
> the optimization document in the /contrib directory in the Apple 
> archive.)

This is a digression, however I'll mention it anyway.
It helps if you put in correct declarations.  Unfortunately the MCL
compiler does not warn you if you put in declarations that don't make
any difference.  If I remember your code, one problem was that you
said integer where you should have said fixnum; a common pitfall in
Common Lisp declarations.  I think some other Common Lisp compilers
will tell you whether your declarations are working, which I think
is a good idea.
From: bill@cambridge.apple.com (Bill St. Clair)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: Re: How to get the window hilite color?
Date: 12 Oct 92 17:13:33 GMT
Full-Name: Bill St. Clair
Original-To: Repenning Alexander <ralex@tigger.cs.colorado.edu>
Original-Cc: info-mcl

>I'm trying to get the hilite color of a window. One would think
>this should be a pretty trivial task but I'm goin insane..
>
>[...]
>However, if I use the inspector I can find my way though the hilite
>color which is different from the one returned by _getauxwin.
>
>Unfortunately, I'm not able to get the value returned by the inspector
>via rref:
>
>(rref 
> (rref 
>  (rref (wptr w) :cwindowrecord.port)
>  :cgrafport.grafvars)
> :grafvars.rgbhilitecolor)
>
>> Error: Illegal attempt to get a pointer to a :RGBCOLOR within a handle
>> While executing: CCL::EXPAND-HANDLE-RECORD-GET
>
>So, how can I access the hilite color of a window? Any ideas?

(defun hilite-rgb (window)
  (with-macptrs ((grafvars (pref (wptr window) :cwindowrecord.port.grafvars)))
    (values (href grafvars :grafvars.rgbHiliteColor.red)
            (href grafvars :grafvars.rgbHiliteColor.green)
            (href grafvars :grafvars.rgbHiliteColor.blue))))

; Some code to pop up a color picker with a window's hilight color.
#|
(defparameter *w* (make-instance 'window :color-p t))
(user-pick-color :color (multiple-value-call 'make-color (hilite-rgb *w*)))
|#
From: markh@MEDIA-LAB.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Mark Halliday)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp.mcl
Subject: QuickTime
Date: 15 Oct 92 19:29:07 GMT
Original-To: info-mcl@cambridge.apple.com

Has anybody come across a bug in the QuickTime MCL code that redraws
movie views in the wrong place. I think the problem is in: 

(defmethod update-movie ((movie movie))
  (#_UpdateMovie (mptr movie)))

The #_UpdateMovie trap seems to do the wrong thing.
Is this correct?
Has anyone got a fix?
Thanks,
Mark Halliday
From: kerry@ADS.COM (Kerry Koitzsch)
Subject: SAVE-OBJECT 7e utility available
Keywords: ASCII rep of LISP objects, persistence, file I/O
Organization: Advanced Decision Systems, Mtn. View, CA (415) 960-7300
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 02:44:01 GMT

Hello LISP users:

SAVE OBJECT 7e, a utility to save LISP objects to files, is again
available with several new features:

=== Much improved support for MCL, CMU CL, and AKCL, as well as the
    new PCLs: several improvements and bug fixes generally.

=== The ability to save dotted lists, GENSYMs, and defstruct 'classes'.

=== Saving multiple objects with the macro WITH-SAVED-OBJECTS.

=== The MAKE-DEFSTRUCT-ACCESS function automatically generates defstruct
access functions from supplied vendor data: much more efficient and
compact defstruct code.

I'd like to thank the literally dozens of people involved in checking out
the alpha code : a lot of helpful feedback improved this version considerably.

If you would like a copy of this code, send me an email at
kerry@ads.com. It will soon be available in the CMU LISP archive also.
kerry
From: ksand@apple.com (Kent Sandvik)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: Re: Source code from Dr. Dobb's Journal
Date: 16 Oct 92 02:47:09 GMT
Followup-To: comp.lang.lisp
Organization: Apple

In article <92227@netnews.upenn.edu>, freeman@gradient.cis.upenn.edu (Jon
Freeman) wrote:
> Before I get even more irritated than I already am, has anyone managed
> to obtain a correct listing of this code, say through CompuServe
> (which I don't have access to)?  If not, does anyone know an email

Even worse, the CServe archive is in some kind of a PC yacky archive format
so I can't de-archive it on my machine... Otherwise I would have sent
over the sources.

Kent
-------------------
Kent Sandvik (UUCP: ....!apple!ksand; INTERNET: ksand@apple.com)
DISCLAIMER: Private activities on the Net.
From: elci@bugs.gs.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: GINA
Summary: works on kcl?
Keywords: kcl GINA
Date: 16 Oct 92 21:27:46 GMT


Did anyone get GINA to work on akcl properly? I am running kcl on a
DECStation 5000. Please post or email any replies. Thanks.

Reha
From: jeh@windrider.llnl.gov (Jose E. Hernandez)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: Re: Is lisp easy to learn?
Date: 16 Oct 92 15:36:26 GMT
Reply-To: jeh@llnl.gov
Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

I agree with the last email.  I believe also that staring with
comprehensive reviews on LISP like the ones in Norvig, Tanimoto, or
Harrison gets you up to speed more quickly than going through the more
traditional texbooks.  The reference book by Franz is for sure a most.


Xref: sparky comp.lang.lisp:2647 news.answers:3407
From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Subject: Re: Is lisp easy to learn?
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 06:13:32 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park
Originator: clin@erlang.src.umd.edu


In article <1992Oct14.204748.6865@news.columbia.edu>, reha@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Reha Elci) writes:
>In article <92288.145030REGHC@CUNYVM.BITNET> <REGHC@CUNYVM.BITNET> writes:
>>I just purchased a book for Lisp programming, but have never used this before.
>>Is this easy to learn by myself by reading the manual and practicing on the
>>computer?
>
>LISP is ***the*** easiest language to learn by a 10:1 ratio to even the
>nearest contender. So just get an interpreter and start typing. you do
>not have to write a program like 'C' to learn it.

    I think it's the interpreter that makes LISP easy to learn.  You
get immediate feedback without having to wait for the compilation
procedure.   But, as with any programming, when you get bugs it
can be bothersome, but I find it easier to debug in LISP than
other languages.

    My opinion is that if you have learned a language like C, then
LISP is different, but interesting.   One has to get a few C,
Pascal-thoughts out of your head.   And, recursion, typically
a stumbling block for even those who start as CS majors, can
be a difficulty, more in how to use it, rather than using it in
LISP.

    My question is then: If Lisp is so easy, why is it easy?  What
prevents someone from using, say, ML?

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu

Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
From: ppc1@cec1.wustl.edu (Peter Pui Tak Chiu)
Subject: ambiguous
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 00:38:20 GMT

is it true that there is no way to check if a grammar is ambiguous?

peter
From: pj@linz.ensmp.fr (Pierre JOUVELOT <jouvelot@cri.ensmp.fr>)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: Re: Lisp on C/C++
Date: 8 Oct 92 12:45:38 GMT
	<5224@balrog.ctron.com>
Organization: Ecole des Mines de Paris, France


In article <9209161755.AA02345@brownie.cs.wisc.edu>, so@CS.WISC.EDU
(Bryan S. So) writes: 

   >>I am seriously considering implementing some kind of list
   >>processing on top of C, so that a C programmer can make use
   >>of some limited Lisp facilities in C or C++.

You may be interested in looking at the tool NewGen that we developed
in-house to do something similar.  The summary of a paper describing
NewGen follows.  NewGen can be anonymously ftped from isatis.ensmp.fr
(but his still in its development stage).

Pierre

PS: We are working on extending the framework pioneered in NewGen.
    Comments would be welcome on what people think is missing there.

--

NewGen is a software engineering tool that helps programmers define and
implement sophisticated data types. Data {\em domains} are defined with
a high level specification language, called {\em DDL}, that allows user
defined domains to be built over {\em basic} domains with operators like
Cartesian product, union, list or array.

NewGen analyzes a set of specifications and produces a collection of
macros, functions, predicates, and pre-defined constants that enable
programs to create, initialize, access, update, and delete objects of
these types as if the programming language had been especially tailored
to manipulate {\em these} data types.

NewGen promotes the ideas of {\em functional abstraction} and {\em
evolution process} as ways to ease the prototyping, development and
evolution of applications that use such multi-language program
generators.  Applications that are developed with NewGen data types can
share complex data structures while being written partly in C and partly
in CommonLISP, the two currently supported programming languages.

NewGen ideas have been validated in practice; this tool is heavily used
for two projects that focus on the development of state-of-the-art
parallelization strategies for Fortran programs.
Xref: sparky comp.lang.lisp:2644 news.answers:3404
From: andrew@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Andy Biewer)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: KCL on DECstation 5000/240?
Date: 16 Oct 1992 18:06:57 GMT
Organization: UW-Milwaukee - Language Resource Center
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.4
Originator: andrew@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

Hello NetPeople,

I am thinking of compiling KCL on a DECstation 5000/240 (if possible), but
I wanted to ask around first to see if anyone has successfully does this
and, if so, what special considerations are needed?

My main concern has to do with all of the assembler code in the source.  Will
this successfully compile on a DEC 5000/240?  The reason why I don't just go
ahead and give it a try is because I have to request the disk space from a
higher source, and I'd like to know if it's worth the trouble before I do
that.

Another question I have is how much disk space will I need to compile the
entire project?

	Thanks for any help,

	Andy Biewer
	Language Resource Center
	University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee

Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
From: kerry@ADS.COM (Kerry Koitzsch)
Subject: Compiled function name in Allegro CL
Organization: Advanced Decision Systems, Mtn. View, CA (415) 960-7300
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 23:22:50 GMT

Hello Allegro CL experts:

Is there a function in ACL 4.1 which extracts the function name
from the function object? (similar to SI:COMPILED-FUNCTION-NAME on
the Symbolics, or SYS:PROCEDURE-REF in Lucid)

e.g. #'car ==> 'car

Thanks, kerry
From: axs@cs.bham.ac.uk (Aaron Sloman)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp,uk.lisp
Subject: Re: which lisp?
Date: 12 Oct 92 01:44:04 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, UK

williams@aifh.ed.ac.uk writes:

> Organization: Dept AI, Edinburgh University, Scotland
>
> I have to find a lisp compiler/interpreter to use in a (fairly large)
> commercial software project, and I basically don't know where to start
> looking.  The only lisp that I've used in anger is AKCL and I don't even
> know where that came from.  The platform is a Sun Microsystems
> Sparcstation and there are no a priori restrictions (on things like
> compatibility).

Poplog Common Lisp will run on your Sparcstation, and Poplog is
already available in your department. (E.g. ask Richard Caley)

Alternatively, as a UK educational user, you can get it at a large
academic discount from Sussex University
    (email alim@cogs.sussex.ac.uk)
though others have to go via the commercial distributors, Integral
solutions ltd. (email isl@integ.uucp)

Poplog Common Lisp conforms to the first edition of Steele's Book
on Common Lisp.
-- 
Aaron Sloman, School of Computer Science,
The University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, England
EMAIL   A.Sloman@cs.bham.ac.uk  OR A.Sloman@bham.ac.uk
Phone: +44-(0)21-414-3711       Fax:   +44-(0)21-414-4281
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp