I'm looking for a Lisp interpreter written in BASIC, preferably
Visual Basic; one written in VBA would be best of all. An
alternative would be a Python-2-Basic compiler.
Unfortunately I have to develop some special purpose code in an
organization where my only development environment is Microsoft Office
Visual Basic for Applications.
The security 'droids have decided that since the MS Office Suite is a
"standard" application then software written in MS Office VBA must be
"safe." Any other development environments (such as Lisp, Java, Perl,
Cygwin) are "unsafe" and can't be installed.
The result is that any software I write must be bootstrapped from MS
Office VBA.
So, if I want Python, I need a Python interpreter in VBA.
If you respond, please send a copy to ·······@comcast.net
Peter Olsen
Oops! I also asked the same question in the Python group and didn't
change all the "Python"s to "Lisp"s.
So, if I want _LISP_, I need a _LISP_ interpreter in VBA.
On 1 May 2005 06:42:31 -0700, "Engineer" <·······@comcast.net>
wrote:
>I'm looking for a Lisp interpreter written in BASIC, preferably
>Visual Basic; one written in VBA would be best of all. An
>alternative would be a Python-2-Basic compiler.
There was Lisp written in Basic for TRS-80 computer, and complete
code was published somewhere around 1981 - 1983 in TRS-80 Journal.
Unfortunately, collector's item...
A.L.
[REDACTED] writes:
> On 1 May 2005 06:42:31 -0700, "Engineer" <·······@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>>I'm looking for a Lisp interpreter written in BASIC, preferably
>>Visual Basic; one written in VBA would be best of all. An
>>alternative would be a Python-2-Basic compiler.
>
> There was Lisp written in Basic for TRS-80 computer, and complete
> code was published somewhere around 1981 - 1983 in TRS-80 Journal.
> Unfortunately, collector's item...
Fortunately, the author has scanned the article and put it on the web,
as a simple web search reveals; see the link at the bottom of
http://vorlon.cwru.edu/~beer/
Don't entertain for a moment the idea that this implementation would
be useful, though... a lot of things changed (for the better, I guess)
between Level II Basic and VBA.
-Peter-
"Engineer" <·······@comcast.net> writes:
> I'm looking for a Lisp interpreter written in BASIC, preferably
> Visual Basic; one written in VBA would be best of all. An
> alternative would be a Python-2-Basic compiler.
>
> Unfortunately I have to develop some special purpose code in an
> organization where my only development environment is Microsoft Office
> Visual Basic for Applications.
>
> The security 'droids have decided that since the MS Office Suite is a
> "standard" application then software written in MS Office VBA must be
> "safe." Any other development environments (such as Lisp, Java, Perl,
> Cygwin) are "unsafe" and can't be installed.
>
> The result is that any software I write must be bootstrapped from MS
> Office VBA.
"May you live in an interesting enterprise..."
You could inspire you from lisp in awk and lisp500.
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/ai-repository/ai/lang/lisp/impl/awk/0.html
http://www.modeemi.fi/~chery/lisp500/
Now, the interesting thing is that once you have lisp500 written in
BASIC, you could slowly port a Common Lisp compiler that generates
native code instead of staying interpreted into the BASIC.
--
__Pascal Bourguignon__ http://www.informatimago.com/
Wanna go outside.
Oh, no! Help! I got outside!
Let me back inside!
Engineer <·······@comcast.net> wrote:
> I'm looking for a Lisp interpreter written in BASIC, preferably
> Visual Basic; one written in VBA would be best of all. An
> alternative would be a Python-2-Basic compiler.
>
> Unfortunately I have to develop some special purpose code in an
> organization where my only development environment is Microsoft Office
> Visual Basic for Applications.
>
> The security 'droids have decided that since the MS Office Suite is a
> "standard" application then software written in MS Office VBA must be
> "safe." Any other development environments (such as Lisp, Java, Perl,
> Cygwin) are "unsafe" and can't be installed.
Your security droids have a _very_ strange definition of "safe". I
wouldn't call the virus/worm propagation environment by Microsoft
"safe". Maybe you can interest them in doing some blindfolded chainsaw
juggling while drunk? After all, chainsaws, booze and scarfs are all
"standard stuff" so it must be "safe", right?
> The result is that any software I write must be bootstrapped from MS
> Office VBA.
>
> So, if I want Python, I need a Python interpreter in VBA.
Bootstrapping a Python environment via VBA sounds very tricky to me. But
you may have success with bootstrapping a (minimal) Lisp environment via
VBA. There are a number of "minimal Lisp" environments written in
several languages, maybe you can copy some ideas from there. After all,
the _needed_ Lisp _core_ is pretty small, most of the language can be
implemented in itself.
Regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison
Maybe this is helpful, but if you have VS.NET, there is a sample C#
(easily changed to VB.NET) project at something like C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\SDK\v1.1\Tool Developers
Guide\Samples\clisp that contains a Lisp implementation. It might be a
good start for a VBA Lisp.
Chris