Looking for LMI LISP Machines

From: Dwight Elvey <elvey_at_hal.com>
Date: Mon May 8 13:55:33 2000

ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
> >
> > Perhaps a PERQ was not a LISP machine if hardware support for LISP and
> > supporting services such as garbage collection is your criteria, but a
>
> Yes, I guess that is how I define a LISP machine. In much the same way,
> I'd not call a Jupiter Ace (UK home micro, Z80 based, Forth in ROM) a
> 'forth machine'.


Hi
 This is a hard call, I would call the Jupiter Ace a
Forth machine. It did have a Z80 heart but the interface
was the Forth interpreter. Even things like the NC4000
or RTX2000 that were considered a Forth engines had an
underlying assembly language that was easily formed into Forth.
 The Jupiter Ace didn't have any specific operations
or hardware to support Forth, other than the ROM. I guess,
if one uses this as a drawing line, it makes some sense.
 I wonder how one could define the Canon Cat? Although,
it had Forth in ROM, it was an application machine.
Wouldn't one call it an application machine, even though
it have an underlying processor with Forth overlayed
on that and the application on top of that?
 I don't know how I'd define it and make sense.
Dwight
Received on Mon May 08 2000 - 13:55:33 BST

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