From: Howard R. Stearns
Subject: Re: KCL Lisp & Files
Date: 
Message-ID: <350FFC8E.643A@elwood.com>
David J. Gosman wrote:
> 
> Does anybody know how to do the following:
> 
> I have written up a LISP function in EMACS...now, using KCL, how do I
> open the file?  The load command says it can not open the file...i'm at
> a loss for how to import my function into lisp...thanks!
> 
> David

Are you asking about how one interacts with a the Top-Level Lisp
Listener in KCL?  (If not, skip down to the last paragraph.)

I don't know what documentation comes with KCL, but in general, Lisp
systems present you with a read-eval-print loop at start up:
  Anything you type is read using the function READ.
  The result is evaluated as Lisp code using the function EVAL.
  The results of evaluation are printed using the function PRINT (or 
   some equivalent).

The function LOAD can operate on a Lisp source file or compiled code. 
When given a source file, it basically starts a read-eval-print loop
that reads from the source file instead of from the Top-Level Lisp
Listener.  It's just as though you typed your Lisp expressions --
including function definitions -- into the Top-Level.

Like any Lisp function, load can be called from the Top-Level:
 > (load "my-file.lisp")

Some Lisp systems also provide a set of "commands" that you can think of
as being "short cuts" for calling some corresponding Lisp function. 
You'll have to see your implementation documentation to see what
commands are available, if any.

There are variations on this:
+ The ILISP utilitiy is available for EMACS, which lets you evaluate or
compile expressions one-at-a-time directly from an Emacs buffer into
your Lisp listener.
+ You can compile source files before loading them, using the
COMPILE-FILE function.  Loading the compiled definitions instead of the
original source makes the code run faster.
+ You might encounter errors with expressions that you type into the
Lisp Listener, or load using LOAD.  This puts you in a "debugger", which
is another read-eval-print loop that lets you look at what went wrong.

See the following from the Association of Lisp User's web site:

  The Lisp Top-Level (http://www.elwood.com/alu/table/top-level.htm)
  Evalution in Lisp (http://www.elwood.com/alu/table/evaluation.htm)
  Learning Lisp (http://www.elwood.com/alu/table/learn.htm)
  The ANSI Standard
(http://www.elwood.com/alu/table/references.htm#ansi)
     (For example, look up the function LOAD)
  CLtL2 (http://www.elwood.com/alu/table/references.htm#cltl2)
  Editor software (http://www.elwood.com/alu/table/tools.htm#editors)
  Implementations (http://www.elwood.com/alut/table/systems.htm)

If the issue is not any of the above, but instead has to do with making
the KCL Common Lisp system interoperate with the Emacs Elisp
implementation, then there are a whole different set of issues, and you
should repost with more specfics about what you are trying to accomplish
and why.