From: Chuck Fry
Subject: Lisp-to-C translators?
Date: 
Message-ID: <5docss$j7f@shellx.best.com>
This is a repost of an article that may not have left my office yet
(NASA Ames has a really crummy newsfeed since the bureaucrats found out
about Usenet a couple of years ago, and restricted us to one site-wide
feed).  My apologies for any duplication.

We are trying to translate a large (~ 40K lines) Common Lisp program
into C and/or C++.  We've tried contacting Chestnut Software for their
Lisp-to-C Translator product, but they appear to be defunct.  We've
contacted Elwood Corp. for ECLIPSE, but it appears to be at an early
stage of development.  WCL (Wade's Common Lisp) is platform specific and
is no longer in development.  We are still evaluating ECL (and other KCL
derivatives) and CLiCC.

Aside from these, does anyone know of other Lisp-to-C products?  It's
important for us that we have a source-to-source translation, and
maintainability (in the sense of being able to replace translated
modules with native C/C++ code) is also important.

And does anyone know what became of Chestnut's translator?  I have heard
a rumor that the technology was bought by a Major Software Company and
is being carefully hoarded.  I would appreciate any insight into the
current status of the Lisp-to-C Translator.

Thanks in advance.  Please email me a copy of any followup at the
address below, as our newsfeed is unreliable and our need urgent.

 -- Chuck Fry  ······@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov (work address)
    Caelum Research Corporation at NASA Ames Research Center
-- 
	    Chuck Fry -- Jack of all trades, master of none
 ······@chucko.com (text only please), ········@home.com (MIME enabled)
		      This space for rent... NOT.
From: George J. Carrette
Subject: Re: Lisp-to-C translators?
Date: 
Message-ID: <01bc1c08$6cc38400$0f02000a@gjchome.nis.newscorp.com>
Chuck Fry <······@best.com> wrote in article
<··········@shellx.best.com>...
> 
> And does anyone know what became of Chestnut's translator?  I have heard
> a rumor that the technology was bought by a Major Software Company and
> is being carefully hoarded.  

Yes, I heard that the company was Oracle. But no need to take my word for
it,
this is public knowledge at the US Bankrupcy court in Boston.

Also some customers of Chestnut may
have had agreements which allowed them full source code access if Chestnut
went out of business. 

Another option you might look into is GCL. (Gnu Common LISP).

Either way, speaking as a longtime lisp implementor, who went from
conventional
machine language to microcode back to conventional machine language, I
think
that given the dominance of the C programming language and its universal
support by all hardware and operating system vendors that you are going
the right route in considering some LISP -> C delivery option.

On the other hand, the C platforms are themselves very different if you
push
into areas such as lightweight thread support.

The ideal thing for the userbase would be the formation of some kind
of Lisp Consortium like an X or W3C which would produce a platform that
a vast number of people could live with for the next 10 years.
Maybe. Something to think about.

Of course it would need a hardcore, highly motivated staff who would bring
out
something useful in at most the first 6 months.