XLISP version 1.4
-----------------

	XLISP is an experimental programming language combining some of the
features of LISP with an object-oriented extension.  It was implemented by
David Betz to allow experimentation with object-oriented programming on
small computers.  A recent article in BYTE magazine (Mar'85) describes some
of the highlights of the XLISP (v1.2) implementation.  The copy currently
in the <INFO-IBMPC> ProgramLibrary is a newer version (still being actively
maintained/enhanced by Betz).  According to him, "...Future versions of
XLISP will continue to migrate towards compatibility with Common Lisp."

	The <INFO-IBMPC> ProgramLibrary copy of XLISP is composed of three
parts, (1) A Short User's Manual, (2) The XLISP Sourcecode, and (3) A Small
Collection of Sample '*.LSP' files.  The User's Manual is a short summary
of the XLISP implementation written by David Betz, and includes some notes 
about how to handle bug reporting.  It is fairly informative and is less
than 40 pages in length (approx 50Kb ASCII file).

The SourceCode and the Samples are each bundled in separate UNIX(tm) 'shell 
archive' modules.  To unpack them, FTP them to a local file and execute the 
archive (i.e. type 'sh <filename>'). If you are not running under UNIX(tm),
you can either write a undbundling procedure or edit each of these ASCII 
files 'manually' (SourceCode: 162K bytes, Samples: 10K bytes).  The C-code
itself is very modular and very well documented, making further extensions
and/or enhancements very attractive.  

XLISP has been ported to an impressive variety of small computers, including
the PDP-11 under UNIX(tm), the VAX-11 with VAX/VMS or Berkeley VAX/UNIX(tm),
and <you-name-it>8088/8086 with CP/M-86 or MS-DOS (PC-DOS 2.00).  A version
is currently being developed for a M68000 under CP/M-68K and also for the
Apple Macintosh.

			Michael R. Grimes  (---m)
			CMU, Pittsburgh PA

MRG@CMU-CS-PS3.ARPA