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Aucbvax.5820 fa.info-vax utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!info-vax Sat Jan 16 23:16:09 1982 I would rather use Multics. >From GJC@MIT-MC Sat Jan 16 20:13:56 1982 GJC@MIT-MC 01/16/82 22:53:55 Re: I would rather use Multics. To: INFO-VAX at MIT-MC People run VMS instead of Unix when they want the features that VMS provides which Unix does not, some of which being system programming features which make it quite practical to imbed Unix in VMS, but quite impossible given the limited resources of the research community to do the opposite, as it would take a complete redesign of Unix, and the complete giving up of its beloved 64k simplicity.

As for the state of NIL, the people who were bantering misinformation about it on this mailing list should consider themselves remprimanded for being silly and unprofessional, as correct information is easily available. [For those serious researchers on this list, I apologize for the tone of the above.]

The facts: [0] NIL is being used, i.e., *now*, at MIT to support ungoing research. [1] NIL will be supported at MIT. [2] NIL will be available for general distribution JAN 30 1982. Send mail to NIL-DISTRIBUTION-REQUEST@MIT-MC. [3] NIL is comparable in programming features, debugging capability, error checking, and speed, to Lispmachine lisp. [4] There is no simple comparison possible with Franz lisp, fundamental implementation details and design goals being completely different. For example, the overhead of FUNCALL in Franz is eleven (11) times greater than in NIL. Obviously this sort of thing has an affect on the usability of a modern message passing programming style. Not important for systems like Macsyma of course. [5] Yes, Macsyma runs in NIL.

-gjc

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