Re: A personal outline of the history of Coral Common Lisp

--00000000000055d432061dc60110
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

 Jeremy,

Sorry to hear that your memory is failing. Thank you for sharing what you
remember.

I remember rewriting the 6805 RAM for the Atari Star Wars Machine to
implement Turtle graphics for that screen, and writing 3D Turtle Graphics
for the Symbolics Lisp Machine. Both at the Atari Cambridge Research Lab,
in 1984.

I remember Jeremy giving me a 1 megabyte floppy, around 1988, plugging it
into my Mac Plus, and being amazed that there was a real Common Lisp that
ran on that little toy computer.

I remember expanding Gail=E2=80=99s CLOS beginnings to a full implementatio=
n, and
am sad that Gregor=E2=80=99s Art of the MetaObject Protocol book was not ye=
t
available in 1990, or MCL and CCL would have a complete MOP today.

I remember helping the Dylan team with WOOD (William=E2=80=99s Object-Orien=
ted
Database, a persistent heap), to store compiler products, and general MCL
maintenance. Our layoff party, in October of 2015, featuring Halloween
colors and snacks of Apple turnovers, sticks in my memory.

I remember helping, at Digitool, with the port of MCL from 68000 to
PowerPC, and writing the C code to implement segmented stacks. I think I
left Digitool just before the financial break-down, so, unlike Alice and
Gary, Hakim didn=E2=80=99t owe me any money.

Clozure provided interesting work for the last 14 years of my working life
(2006-2020), writing application software in CCL. Thank you to all, Jeremy,
Andrew, Gary, Gail, Gary Palter, Matt.

Bill St. Clair

On Jul 21, 2024 at 11:32:02=E2=80=AFAM, Jeremy Jones <[email protected]> wrote:

> Disclaimer: This is an outline of the history of CCL only.  There is a lo=
t
> of important history missing because I wanted to focus on CCL. I've also
> written more about the early years because it is less well known.
> TONS of details and people have been left out. I've left out descriptions
> of things like ObjectLisp and Qlogo, because I wanted to keep it short an=
d
> there's Google.
>
> This is written from a failing memory, so please send me any corrections
> and suggestions.  I apologize in advance for leaving people out and getti=
ng
> things wrong. If anyone wants a more detailed history and/or wants to hel=
p,
> let me know. After feedback and corrections, I'll probably turn this into=
 a
> Medium article.
>
> =E2=80=90--------
>
> A personal outline of the history of Coral Common Lisp
>
>
> I was hired by the Atari Cambridge Research Lab in 9/83 to write a
> compiler for Qlogo. They gave me a Symbolics 3600 and told me to model th=
e
> compiler on Guy Steele's Rabbit compiler.
>
> The Atari lab closed in 4/84. I was one of three founders of Coral
> Software, along with Steve Hain and Glenn Forrester in 9/84. Glenn handle=
d
> the business while Steve and I did the hacking.  Steve wrote the initial
> runtime and I ported the Qlogo compiler to C for the Macintosh.
>
> I was friends with Gary Byers while we both attended The Evergreen State
> College. I convinced him to become Coral's first employee in 1/85. A mont=
h
> or two later we hired Chris Fry and Gail Zacharias.
>
> The technical team consisted of myself,  Steve, Gary, Gail, and Fry. We
> focused for two and a half years to produce Object Logo and CCL 1.0. We a=
ll
> contributed to all parts of the system but Gary took over the compiler,
> Steve the GC and runtime,  Gail the editor Fred (Fred Resembles EMACS
> Deliberately) and the Common Lisp Reader (written largely in LAP, Lisp
> Assembler Programming!), Fry filled out Common Lisp functionality and did
> QA, I did the IDE and the integration with Mac toolbox.
>
> CCL would have totally failed if it wasn't for the non-technical people a=
t
> Coral.  Glenn for raising money, buying the house we used as an office, a=
nd
> paying the bills.  Andrew Shalit for the excellent documentation.  Philli=
pe
> Krakowski for marketing. Susan and Adrian,  administrative assistants and
> others I've forgotten.  At its peak I think Coral was eleven people.
>
> CCL 1.0 was released in 6/87. It was a complete implementation of CLtL1
> and included an IDE and ObjectLisp. It ran on 512k Macs. (It was actually
> called Macintosh Allegro Common Lisp because of a misguided marketing dea=
l
> with Franz.) It was an incredible product, acquired many fans, and won
> awards. It kicked ass.
>
> Apple acquired Coral in 12/88 and changed the name of CCL to Macintosh
> Common Lisp (MCL). Apple hired Bill St Clair and Alice Hartley to continu=
e
> working on MCL. Gary, Bill, and Alice continued working on MCL while the
> rest of us worked on Dylan.
>
> Apple spun off MCL to Digitool in the early 90s. Gary, Bill, and Alice
> continued to work on MCL at Digitool. Digitool failed as a business and
> owed Gary, Bill, and Alice a lot of back salary. Gary made a deal with
> Digitool to open source the non IDE portions of MCL in return for forgivi=
ng
> the debt. This became OpenMCL.
>
> Gary continued working on OpenMCL for JPL and Sandia. OpenMCL was used on
> space probes! Ron Garrett has told this story.
>
> Gary, Gail, and I founded Clozure Associates in 2001. Clozure took over
> OpenMCL and renamed it to Clozure Common Lisp.  Lots of stuff happened to
> CCL in the 2000s including ports to Intel and ARM, an excellent Cocoa
> bridge, and an IDE for Cocoa. Matt Emerson joined Clozure and ported CCL =
to
> Intel32.
>
> In the 2010s, I left Clozure,  Gary and Gail retired. Clozure officially
> disbanded as a company in 2022 I think. I have a deep appreciation for Ma=
tt
> and the others who are keeping CCL alive.
>
> Finally I want to say that it has been an honor and a privilege to work
> with these amazing people for so many years. Thank you!
>
> Jeremy
>
>
>
>
>
>

--00000000000055d432061dc60110
Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<html><body><div dir=3D"ltr">
    <div dir=3D"ltr">Jeremy,</div><div dir=3D"ltr"><br></div><div dir=3D"lt=
r">Sorry to hear that your memory is failing. Thank you for sharing what yo=
u remember.</div><div dir=3D"ltr"><br></div><div dir=3D"ltr">I remember rew=
riting the 6805 RAM for the Atari Star Wars Machine to implement Turtle gra=
phics for that screen, and writing 3D Turtle Graphics for the Symbolics Lis=
p Machine. Both at the Atari Cambridge Research Lab, in 1984.</div><div dir=
=3D"ltr"><br></div><div dir=3D"ltr">I remember Jeremy giving me a 1 megabyt=
e floppy, around 1988, plugging it into my Mac Plus, and being amazed that =
there was a real Common Lisp that ran on that little toy computer.</div><di=
v dir=3D"ltr"><br></div><div dir=3D"ltr">I remember expanding Gail=E2=80=99=
s CLOS beginnings to a full implementation, and am sad that Gregor=E2=80=99=
s Art of the MetaObject Protocol book was not yet available in 1990, or MCL=
 and CCL would have a complete MOP today.</div><div dir=3D"ltr"><br></div><=
div dir=3D"ltr">I remember helping the Dylan team with WOOD (William=E2=80=
=99s Object-Oriented Database, a persistent heap), to store compiler produc=
ts, and general MCL maintenance. Our layoff party, in October of 2015, feat=
uring Halloween colors and snacks of Apple turnovers, sticks in my memory.<=
/div><div dir=3D"ltr"><br></div><div dir=3D"ltr">I remember helping, at Dig=
itool, with the port of MCL from 68000 to PowerPC, and writing the C code t=
o implement segmented stacks. I think I left Digitool just before the finan=
cial break-down, so, unlike Alice and Gary, Hakim didn=E2=80=99t owe me any=
 money.</div><div dir=3D"ltr"><br></div><div dir=3D"ltr">Clozure provided i=
nteresting work for the last 14 years of my working life (2006-2020), writi=
ng application software in CCL. Thank you to all, Jeremy, Andrew, Gary, Gai=
l, Gary Palter, Matt.</div><div dir=3D"ltr"><br></div><div dir=3D"ltr">Bill=
 St. Clair</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class=3D"gmail_quote">
    <div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Jul 21, 2024 at 11:32:02=E2=80=
=AFAM, Jeremy Jones &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>&=
gt; wrote:<br></div>
    <blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;bor=
der-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex" type=3D"cite">
        <div dir=3D"auto"><div dir=3D"auto">Disclaimer: This is an outline =
of the history of CCL only.=C2=A0 There is a lot of important history missi=
ng because I wanted to focus on CCL. I&#39;ve also written more about the e=
arly years because it is less well known.</div><div dir=3D"auto">TONS of de=
tails and people have been left out. I&#39;ve left out descriptions of thin=
gs like ObjectLisp and Qlogo, because I wanted to keep it short and there&#=
39;s Google.=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">This =
is written from a failing memory, so please send me any corrections and sug=
gestions.=C2=A0 I apologize in advance for leaving people out and getting t=
hings wrong. If anyone wants a more detailed history and/or wants to help, =
let me=C2=A0know. After feedback and corrections, I&#39;ll probably turn th=
is into a Medium article.=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=
=3D"auto">=E2=80=90--------</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"au=
to">A personal outline of the history of Coral Common Lisp</div><div dir=3D=
"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">I was hired =
by the Atari Cambridge Research Lab in 9/83 to write a compiler for Qlogo. =
They gave me a Symbolics 3600 and told me to model the compiler on Guy Stee=
le&#39;s Rabbit compiler.=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=
=3D"auto">The Atari lab closed in 4/84. I was one of three founders of Cora=
l Software, along with Steve Hain and Glenn Forrester in 9/84. Glenn handle=
d the business while Steve and I did the hacking.=C2=A0 Steve wrote the ini=
tial runtime and I ported the Qlogo compiler to C for the Macintosh.</div><=
div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">I was friends with Gary Byers =
while we both attended The Evergreen State College. I convinced him to beco=
me Coral&#39;s first employee in 1/85. A month or two later we hired Chris =
Fry and Gail Zacharias.</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">=
The technical team consisted of myself,=C2=A0 Steve, Gary, Gail, and Fry. W=
e focused for two and a half years to produce Object Logo and CCL 1.0. We a=
ll contributed to all parts of the system but Gary took over the compiler, =
Steve the GC and runtime,=C2=A0 Gail the editor Fred (Fred Resembles EMACS =
Deliberately) and the Common Lisp Reader (written largely in LAP, Lisp Asse=
mbler Programming!), Fry filled out Common Lisp functionality and did QA, I=
 did the IDE and the integration with Mac toolbox.</div><div dir=3D"auto"><=
br></div><div dir=3D"auto">CCL would have totally failed if it wasn&#39;t f=
or the non-technical people at Coral.=C2=A0 Glenn for raising money, buying=
 the house we used as an office, and paying the bills.=C2=A0 Andrew Shalit =
for the excellent documentation.=C2=A0 Phillipe Krakowski for marketing. Su=
san and Adrian,=C2=A0 administrative assistants and others I&#39;ve forgott=
en.=C2=A0 At its peak I think Coral was eleven people.=C2=A0</div><div dir=
=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">CCL 1.0 was released in 6/87. It was =
a complete implementation of CLtL1 and included an IDE and ObjectLisp. It r=
an on 512k Macs. (It was actually called Macintosh Allegro Common Lisp beca=
use of a misguided marketing deal with Franz.) It was an incredible product=
, acquired many fans, and won awards. It kicked ass.</div><div dir=3D"auto"=
><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">Apple acquired Coral in 12/88 and changed the =
name of CCL to Macintosh Common Lisp (MCL). Apple hired Bill St Clair and A=
lice Hartley to continue working on MCL. Gary, Bill, and Alice continued wo=
rking on MCL while the rest of us worked on Dylan.</div><div dir=3D"auto"><=
br></div><div dir=3D"auto">Apple spun off MCL to Digitool in the early 90s.=
 Gary, Bill, and Alice continued to work on MCL at Digitool. Digitool faile=
d as a business and owed Gary, Bill, and Alice a lot of back salary. Gary m=
ade a deal with Digitool to open source the non IDE portions of MCL in retu=
rn for forgiving the debt. This became OpenMCL.</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br>=
</div><div dir=3D"auto">Gary continued working on OpenMCL for JPL and Sandi=
a. OpenMCL was used on space probes! Ron Garrett has told this story.=C2=A0=
</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">Gary, Gail, and I found=
ed Clozure Associates in 2001. Clozure took over OpenMCL and renamed it to =
Clozure Common Lisp.=C2=A0 Lots of stuff happened to CCL in the 2000s inclu=
ding ports to Intel and ARM, an excellent Cocoa bridge, and an IDE for Coco=
a. Matt Emerson joined Clozure and ported CCL to Intel32.</div><div dir=3D"=
auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">In the 2010s, I left Clozure,=C2=A0 Gary =
and Gail retired. Clozure officially disbanded as a company in 2022 I think=
. I have a deep appreciation for Matt and the others who are keeping CCL al=
ive.</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">Finally I want to s=
ay that it has been an honor and a privilege to work with these amazing peo=
ple for so many years. Thank you!</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=
=3D"auto">Jeremy=C2=A0</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto"><=
br></div><div dir=3D"auto"><br><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto=
"><br></div></div></div>

    </blockquote>
</div></body></html>

--00000000000055d432061dc60110--