Using LLMs to chat with books and documents? That's so 1978.

In the 1970s the HELPSYS facility of Interlisp-10 let you interrogate the 700+ pages Interlisp Reference Manual via an English like syntax. You could run queries on topics and system functions such as TELL ME ABOUT EVAL or TELL ME ABOUT THE 2ND ARG OF CHANGEPROP and HELPSYS would print the relevant information or section of the manual. Here's an example session from the 1978 edition of the manual:

https://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/interlisp/Interlisp-Oct_1978.pdf#page=474

Interlisp-10 was the Interlisp implementation for the PDP-10.

#interlisp #documentation #lisp #retrocomputing

Thanks to @SDF I'm checking out Interlisp-10 under the TOPS-20 operating system (aka TWENEX) running on DECSYSTEM-20 hardware. Lots of fun.

https://twenex.org

Tutorials on Interlisp-10 and its structure editor:

https://wiki.twenex.org/tutorials:interlisp

https://papa.sdf.org/cave/twenex/interlisp-editor.html

#interlisp #lisp #retrocomputing

To edit a font on Medley Interlisp load and run the EDITFONT font editor like in the screenshot:

(FILESLOAD EDITFONT)
(EDITFONT '(TIMESROMAND 36 BOLD))

Left-click on a character to edit its bitmap, middle-click to bring up a menu.

#interlisp #lisp #fonts

Building Medley Interlisp from source has been dramatically faster since the past week or so: it now takes 1/3 of what it used to. I didn't modify the setup of my Linux Mint 22.1 Cinnamon box other than the usual system updates, and there were no recent major performance related changes to Medley.

I'm really happy but wonder about the source of the speedup. Perhaps some Linux kernel tweaks but my Mint release doesn't incorporate the bleeding edge.

#interlisp#LinuxMint #linux

To edit a font on Medley Interlisp load and run the EDITFONT font editor like in the screenshot:

(FILESLOAD EDITFONT)
(EDITFONT '(TIMESROMAND 36 BOLD))

Left-click on a character to edit its bitmap, middle-click to bring up a menu.

#interlisp #lisp #fonts

I updated my post "Do I need a Lisp Machine comeback?". I have added the new information I've found with chatting with folks on lisp IRC channels.

https://far.chickenkiller.com/computing/do-i-need-a-lisp-machine-comeback/

Seems like I was looking for was "residential style development" or something. Dunno yet what does it mean. But for sure I am digging something out of grave!

#lisp #lispmachine #interlisp #residentialdevelopment #development #softwaredevelopment #programming #commonlisp #clisp #cl #computing #computers #retrocomputing #wakegp #research

Essential LISP by John Anderson et al., published in 1987, was an introductory Lisp book based on research on how beginners learn Lisp.

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL21180323M/Essential_LISP

For code examples it used a subset of features available in most dialects of the time. Where the book differs it goes with Common Lisp with adaptation notes for other dialects, including Interlisp.

#CommonLisp #lisp #interlisp

I'm learning and playing around with the TTY Editor, the command line structure editor of Medley Interlisp.

https://interlisp.org/documentation/IRM.pdf#page=262

It's the oldest Interlisp editor and predates graphical interfaces and SEdit but is still useful. The commands of the TTY Editor double as a little language for batch editing and s-exp manipulation. Think Unix sed(1) for s-exps. The language even supports EDITMACROS (wink wink). To get a flavor for the language evaluate (PRINTDEF EDITMACROS) at an Interlisp REPL.

#interlisp #lisp #editor

The lack of support for cursor keys and keyboard navigation doesn't get in the way of editing. In addition to quick mouse gestures, the most common cases of cursor movement are handled by other keys such as ) for moving outside and Backspace for moving inside a list.

#interlisp #lisp #editor

The lack of support for cursor keys and keyboard navigation doesn't get in the way of editing. In addition to quick mouse gestures, the most common cases of cursor movement are handled by other keys such as ) for moving outside and Backspace for moving inside a list.

#interlisp #lisp #editor

The lack of support for cursor keys and keyboard navigation doesn't get in the way of editing. In addition to quick mouse gestures, the most common cases of cursor movement are handled by other keys such as ) for moving outside and Backspace for moving inside a list.

#interlisp #lisp #editor

An introduction to the usage and design of SEdit, the structure editor for Lisp code of Medley Interlisp:

https://files.interlisp.org/medley/docs/internal/sedit/old/intro.tedit.pdf

For more details on the usage and internals of SEdit see (especially code-editing.tedit.pdf):

https://files.interlisp.org/medley/docs/internal/sedit/old/

#interlisp #lisp #editor

#NoteCards #interlisp #retrocomputing #hypertext

#NoteCards #interlisp #retrocomputing #hypertext

A comprehensive introduction to the NoteCards hypermedia system developed in Interlisp at Xerox PARC. This 1985 videotape covers and demonstrates tha basic system, the programmer's interface, and research issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZCitxFlnqQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsYGDON_7Ds

#NoteCards #interlisp #retrocomputing #hypertext

This 1989 MSc thesis describes and includes the full source of AMUSED, a diagnostic assistance expert system written in Interlisp:

https://repository.rit.edu/theses/97

The program icon on page 45 of the PDF is worth a look for a chuckle:

https://repository.rit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1100&context=theses#page=45

#ExpertSystem #interlisp #retrocomputing

The 1974 manual of Pico, a graphics library for the Alto workstation developed at Xerox PARC. Callable from BCPL, it allowed to generate graphic output and handle input from a mouse or graphics tablet.

https://bitsavers.org/pdf/xerox/parc/memos/Newman_and_Sproull_-_PICO_Manual_197407.pdf

The manual mentions a planned Interlisp callable version but I found no trace of it. Maybe Pico evolved into or influenced DLISP.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/965103.807428

#retrocomputing #xerox #alto #interlisp

This 1988 paper reports on Smalltalk-80 for exploratory programming and fast prototyping at Tektronix.

Standard software engineering uses programming to implement a given specification. In contrast, exploratory programming is writing the specification.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/51607.51614

Some of the parallels the paper draws to Interlisp-D are not entirely accurate.

https://groups.google.com/g/lispcore/c/G9ozbhT2OnQ/m/-XF_Ufm6CAAJ

#smalltalk #interlisp #retrocomputing

If you use or tried running Medley Interlisp, what things did you discover later on that you wish you knew? We would appreciate your feedback.

#interlisp #lisp

If you use or tried running Medley Interlisp, what things did you discover later on that you wish you knew? We would appreciate your feedback.

#interlisp #lisp