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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Codeberg @Codeberg doesn't currently detect and display Interlisp sources, which it handles as binary files. I submitted a feature request for adding Interlisp support to Forgejo:
https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/issues/8184
The developers started working on the feature and merged a pull request:
https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/pulls/8377
Thanks Forgejo and Codeberg!
I'm putting together a reading list on Xerox Network Systems (XNS), the network architecture developed at PARC and Xerox which influenced TCP/IP.
I'd like to learn more to play with the network functionality of Medley Interlisp based on XNS. Medley's TCP/IP stack is currently incomplete and not working.
https://ftpmirror.your.org/pub/misc/bitsavers/pdf/xerox/xns/XNSG058504_XNS_Introduction.pdf
A 1988 demonstration of the Cognoter collaborative brainstorming tool in Interlisp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzBj13OSVzM
It was an application of project Colab at Xerox PARC to study how computers could support face-to-face-meetings. The researchers designed a conference room with specialized equipment such as a touch sensitive projection screen and collaboration software in Interlisp running on networked workstations.
About Colab:
A 1988 demonstration of the Cognoter collaborative brainstorming tool in Interlisp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzBj13OSVzM
It was an application of project Colab at Xerox PARC to study how computers could support face-to-face-meetings. The researchers designed a conference room with specialized equipment such as a touch sensitive projection screen and collaboration software in Interlisp running on networked workstations.
About Colab:
Someone should write some #MIT#CADR microcode and supporting code to make it possible to run #Interlisp / #Medley on the #MIT#LispMachine#LispM
Someone should write some #MIT#CADR microcode and supporting code to make it possible to run #Interlisp / #Medley on the #MIT#LispMachine#LispM
Don't mind me, I'm just poking around this newfangled OOP thing with LOOPS on Medley Interlisp. LOOPS (Lisp Object-Oriented Programming System) is the object extension of Interlisp.
We are happy to share the preprint and slides of the paper "The Medley Interlisp Project: Reviving a Historical Software System" by Eleanor Young et al.:
https://interlisp.org/documentation/young-ccece2025.pdf
https://interlisp.org/documentation/young-ccece2025-slides.pdf
It tells the first 5 years of the Medley Interlisp Project and discusses what other historical software recovery groups can learn from our experience. The paper was presented at IEEE CCEECE 2025 in Vancouver and accepted for publication.
We are happy to share the preprint and slides of the paper "The Medley Interlisp Project: Reviving a Historical Software System" by Eleanor Young et al.:
https://interlisp.org/documentation/young-ccece2025.pdf
https://interlisp.org/documentation/young-ccece2025-slides.pdf
It tells the first 5 years of the Medley Interlisp Project and discusses what other historical software recovery groups can learn from our experience. The paper was presented at IEEE CCEECE 2025 in Vancouver and accepted for publication.
The LOOPS primer, published in 1987, captured well the essence of exploratory programming in Lisp:
The LOOPS interface provides both a programming tool and a thinking tool. As you develop a new system, each preliminary version provides an object for thought and discussion. The preliminary versions are a crucial part of the design process.
LOOPS (Lisp Object-Oriented Programming System) is the OOP extension of Interlisp.
A space for Bonfire maintainers and contributors to communicate
