Le Lisp (also Le_Lisp and Le-Lisp) is a

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

, a

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

of the language

Lisp A lisp is a speech impairment in which a person misarticulates sibilants (, , , , , , , ). These misarticulations often result in unclear speech. Types * A frontal lisp occurs when the tongue is placed anterior to the target. Interdental lisping ...

. It was developed at the

French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation The National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) () is a French national research institution focusing on computer science and applied mathematics. It was created under the name ''Institut de recherche en informatiq ...

(INRIA), to be an implementation language for a

very large scale integration Very large-scale integration (VLSI) is the process of creating an integrated circuit (IC) by combining millions or billions of MOS transistors onto a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when MOS integrated circuit (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) c ...

(VLSI)

workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

being designed under the direction of

Jean Vuillemin Jean Vuillemin is a French computer scientist known for his work in data structures and parallel computing. He is a professor of computer science at the École normale supérieure (Paris). Contributions Vuillemin invented the binomial heap and ...

. ''Le Lisp'' also had to run on various incompatible platforms (mostly running

Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and ot ...

operating systems) that were used by the project. The main goals for the language were to be a powerful post- Maclisp version of Lisp that would be

portable Portable may refer to: General * Portable building, a manufactured structure that is built off site and moved in upon completion of site and utility work * Portable classroom, a temporary building installed on the grounds of a school to provide a ...

, compatible,

extensible Extensibility is a software engineering and systems design principle that provides for future growth. Extensibility is a measure of the ability to extend a system and the level of effort required to implement the extension. Extensions can be th ...

, and efficient. Jérôme Chailloux led the ''Le Lisp'' team, working with Emmanuel St. James, Matthieu Devin, and Jean-Marie Hullot in 1980. The dialect is historically noteworthy as one of the first Lisp implementations to be available on both the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

and the

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...

. On 2020-01-08, INRIA agreed to migrate the source code to the 2-clause BSD License which allowed few native ports from

ILOG ILOG S.A. was an international software company purchased and incorporated into IBM announced in January, 2009. It created enterprise software products for supply chain, business rule management, visualization and optimization. The main product ...

and Eligis to adopt this license model.

References

External links

* , Eligis, for

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was introd ...

processors
Le Lisp at Computer History Museum's Software Preservation Group

Le-Lisp Open Source repository on GitHub
Lisp programming language family Lisp (programming language) {{compu-lang-stub