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List of Lisp-family programming languages
List article

The programming language Lisp is the second-oldest high-level programming language with direct descendants and closely related dialects still in widespread use today. The language Fortran is older by one year. Lisp, like Fortran, has changed a lot since its early days, and many dialects have existed over its history. Today, the most widely known general-purpose Lisp dialects are Common Lisp and Scheme.

LanguageYear begunCreated by (at)CommentsReferences
ACL21990Robert Boyer,J Moore,Matt KaufmannA Computational Logic for Applicative Common Lisp consists of a programming language, an extensible theory in a first-order logic, and a mechanical theorem prover
Arc2008Paul GrahamDialect of Lisp developed by Paul Graham and Robert Morris
AutoLISP1986David BetzBuilt to include and use with the full version of AutoCAD and its derivatives
BBN LISP1966BBNBased on L. Peter Deutsch's Lisp implementation for PDP-1, which was developed from 1960 to 1964; in time language was expanded until it became its own separate dialect in 1966; later renamed Interlisp
Chez Scheme1985R. Kent DybvigScheme dialect
Chialisp2019Bram CohenLisp-like language, focus on security and auditability; commonly used on Chia blockchain to lock funds in smart coins until spent and released by their owner, enabling behavior similar to a smart contract
Chicken2000Felix WinkelmannScheme dialect
Clojure2007Rich HickeyLisp dialect, emphasizes functional programming; runs on Java virtual machine, Common Language Runtime, and JavaScript engines; like other Lisps, treats code as data (homoiconicity) and has a macro system
ANSI Common Lisp1994ANSI X3J13 committeeCommon Lisp enhanced and standardized, published in ANSI standard document ANSI INCITS 226-1994; to the features of Common Lisp, it adds the loop macro, and the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS) to provide object-oriented programming paradigm with multiple dispatch (multimethods), and method combinations; runs on many platforms: Unix, Linux, macOS, Windows, JVM, JavaScript, Unix/C, LLVM/C++, Android, iOS
Common Lisp1984Lisp dialect first standardized in a book, "Common Lisp the Language", by Guy L. Steele, developed as a standardized and improved successor of Maclisp; statically and dynamically scoped; strongly-typed, allows (optional) type declarations; separate namespaces for functions versus data variables, a trait often named Lisp-2; object-oriented programming is possible via libraries such as Flavors, CommonLOOPS, and later CLOS; treats code as data (homoiconicity) and has a macro system; The reader is extensible via reader macros
Dylan1992Apple ComputerMostly based on Scheme and Common Lisp, was designed as system and application programming language by Apple; first used to write an operating system and applications for internal prototypes of the later released Apple Newton computer; first official version of Apple Dylan also had s-expression based syntax; Apple collaborated with partners to develop this language
Emacs Lisp1976Richard StallmanAlso termed Elisp, used by GNU Emacs and XEmacs text editors to implement most editing functions built into Emacs
EuLisp1990Statically and dynamically scoped Lisp dialect developed by a loose formation of industrial and academic Lisp users and developers across Europe; the standardizers intended to create a new Lisp "less encumbered by the past" (compared to Common Lisp), and not so minimalist as Scheme, and to integrate the object-oriented programming paradigm well
Franz Lisp1980Richard FatemanWritten at UC Berkeley by the students of Professor Richard J. Fateman, based largely on Maclisp and distributed with the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) for the Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) VAX
Game Oriented Assembly Lisp (GOAL)2000sAndy GavinVideo game programming language developed by Andy Gavin and the Jak and Daxter team at Naughty Dog; written using Allegro Common Lisp; used in developing the full game series
Hy2013Paul TagliamonteA lisp with tight integration with Python
Ikarus2007Abdulaziz GhuloumScheme dialect
Interlisp1967BBNProgramming environment built around a version of Lisp language; development began in 1967 at Bolt, Beranek and Newman in Cambridge, Massachusetts as BBN LISP, which ran on PDP-10 machines running the TENEX operating system; when Danny Bobrow, Warren Teitelman, and Ronald Kaplan moved from BBN to Xerox PARC, it was renamed Interlisp
ISLISP1997WG16Small core language to help bridge the gap between differing Lisp dialects
Le Lisp1981INRIADesigned by Jérôme Chailloux, Emmanuel St. James, INRIA
Lisp Flavored Erlang (LFE)2008Robert VirdingLisp dialect built on Core Erlang and the Erlang virtual machine BEAM
Lisp Machine Lisp1984Sometimes named Zetalisp, is a direct descendant of Maclisp; was developed in the mid to late 1970s as the systems programming language for the MIT Lisp machines
Lispkit Lisp1980Peter HendersonA lexically scoped, purely functional subset of Lisp ("Pure Lisp") developed as a testbed for functional programming concepts.
Maclisp1966Project MACOriginated at MIT's Project MAC in late 1960s; based on Lisp 1.5; Richard Greenblatt was main developer of original codebase for the PDP-6; Jon L. White was responsible for later maintenance and development
MultiLisp1980sRobert H. HalsteadScheme dialect, extended with constructs for parallel computing, executing, and shared memory; also had some unusual garbage collection and task scheduling algorithms
NIL1970sMIT32-bit Lisp implementation developed at MIT; intended as successor to Maclisp; NIL stood for New Implementation of LISP, and was in part a response to DECs VAX computer
OpenLisp1988Christian JullienISLISP compatible language with many Common Lisp extensions; runs on most modern operating systems
Owl Lisp2012Aki HelinPure functional Scheme dialect; based on applicable subset of the R7RS standard; has been extended mainly with threads and the data structures needed for purely functional operation
PicoLisp1988Alexander BurgerOpen-source Lisp dialect; runs on Linux and other POSIX-compliant systems; most prominent features are simplicity and minimalism
Portable Standard Lisp1980University of UtahTail-recursive dynamically bound Lisp dialect inspired by its predecessor, Standard Lisp and the Portable Lisp Compiler; it implements the Reduce computer algebra system
Racket1994PLT Inc.General purpose, multi-paradigm programming language in the Lisp-Scheme family; one of its design goals is to serve as a platform for language creation, design, and implementation; it is used in many contexts such as scripting, general-purpose programming, computer science education, and research
Scheme1970Guy L. Steele,Gerald SussmanFunctional programming language with a minimalist design philosophy specifying a small standard core with powerful tools for language extension
Scheme In One Defun (SIOD)1988George J. CarretteSmall Scheme implementation, written in C language, made to embed in C programs
SKILL1990Cadence Design SystemsUsed as a scripting language and PCell description language used in many EDA software suites by Cadence
T1984Jonathan A. Rees,Norman I. AdamsScheme dialect developed in the early 1980s by Jonathan A. Rees, Kent M. Pitman, and Norman I. Adams of Yale University as an experiment in language design and implementation
TXR2009Kaz KylhekuConsists of a Lisp dialect (TXR Lisp) and a pattern language for processing text (TXR Pattern Language)

Timeline

References

  1. "SICP: Foreword". Archived from the original on 2001-07-27. Lisp is a survivor, having been in use for about a quarter of a century. Among the active programming languages only Fortran has had a longer life. https://web.archive.org/web/20010727170154/http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-5.html

  2. "Conclusions". Archived from the original on 2014-04-03. Retrieved 2016-03-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20140403021353/http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/history/lisp/node6.html#SECTION00060000000000000000

  3. "ACL2 Annotated Bibliography". http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/moore/publications/acl2-papers.html

  4. Graham, Paul. "Arc FAQ". Retrieved 2016-03-18. /wiki/Paul_Graham_(computer_programmer)

  5. "AutoLISP". Retrieved 14 April 2014. http://www.caddsoftsolutions.com/AutoLISP.htm

  6. "BBN-LISP". Interlisp family. Software Preservation Group. Retrieved 17 March 2016. http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/interlisp_family/#BBN_LISP_

  7. Cohen, Bram. "Chialisp". Chialisp.com. /wiki/Bram_Cohen

  8. Cohen, Bram. "Bram Cohen". Twitter. /wiki/Bram_Cohen

  9. Cohen, Bram (2019-11-27). "Introducing Chialisp". Chia Network. Retrieved 2022-04-08. /wiki/Bram_Cohen

  10. "Clojure". Clojure.org. Retrieved 2015-09-15. http://clojure.org/

  11. "CLHS: About the Common Lisp HyperSpec: Authorship Information". LispWorks. Retrieved 2019-05-01. http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Front/Help.htm#Authorship

  12. Steele, Guy L. Jr. (1981). Common Lisp the Language, 2nd Ed. Digital Press. ISBN 978-1-55558-041-4. Common Lisp is a new dialect of Lisp, a successor to MacLisp, influenced strongly by ZetaLisp and to some extent by Scheme and InterLisp. 978-1-55558-041-4

  13. "Common Lisp the Language: Type declarations". https://www.cs.cmu.edu/Groups/AI/html/cltl/clm/node106.html#SECTION001330000000000000000

  14. "Common Lisp the Language: Type declarations". https://www.cs.cmu.edu/Groups/AI/html/cltl/clm/node106.html#SECTION001330000000000000000

  15. "CLHS: About the Common Lisp HyperSpec: Authorship Information". LispWorks. Retrieved 2019-05-01. http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Front/Help.htm#Authorship

  16. "My Lisp Experiences and the Development of GNU Emacs". GNU. Retrieved 18 March 2016. https://www.gnu.org/gnu/rms-lisp.html

  17. "An Overview of EuLisp" (PDF). www.softwarepreservation.org. Retrieved 18 March 2016. http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/eulisp/paper/overview.pdf

  18. Gabriel, Richard P. (May 1985). Performance and evaluation of Lisp systems (PDF). MIT Press; Computer Systems Series. ISBN 0-262-07093-6. LCCN 85-15161. 0-262-07093-6

  19. "[Sweng-gamedev] Higher Level Languages (Was: Next Gen Multiplatform Load Balancing)". Archived from the original on 12 April 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070412155710/http://lists.midnightryder.com/pipermail/sweng-gamedev-midnightryder.com/2005-August/003804.html

  20. Teitelman, Warren (April 1972), "Do What I Mean", Computers and Automation: 8–11.

  21. "Programming Language ISLISP". Archived from the original on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160122121427/http://www.islisp.info/specification.html

  22. Chailloux, Jérôme (1983). "LE LISP 80 version 12" (PDF). INRIA. Retrieved 16 March 2012. http://hal.inria.fr/docs/00/07/01/29/PDF/RT-0027.pdf

  23. Chailloux, J.; Devin, M.; Hullot, J.M. (1984). "Le_Lisp, a portable and efficient Lisp system" (PDF). INRIA. Retrieved 16 March 2012. http://hal.inria.fr/docs/00/07/62/38/PDF/RR-0319.pdf

  24. Chailloux, Jérôme (November 2001). Le_Lisp de l'INRIA: Le Manuel de référence. Version 14. Rocquencourt France: INRIA. p. 190. /wiki/France

  25. "Lisp Machine Manual" (PDF). MIT. Retrieved 18 March 2016. http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/mit/cadr/chinual_3rdEd_Mar81.pdf

  26. "The LispKit Manual (Volume 1)" (PDF). Oxford University. Retrieved 12 September 2022. http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/files/3299/PRG32%20vol%201.pdf

  27. Levy, Steven (1984). Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-19195-2. 0-385-19195-2

  28. Levy, Steven (1984). Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-19195-2. 0-385-19195-2

  29. Halstead, R. H. "A Language for Concurrent Symbolic Computation". Retrieved 2006-10-12. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=4478

  30. Gabriel, Richard P (May 1985). Performance and evaluation of Lisp systems (PDF). MIT Press; Computer Systems Series. ISBN 978-0-262-07093-5. LCCN 85015161. 978-0-262-07093-5

  31. Steele, Guy L. Jr.; Gabriel, Richard P. "The evolution of Lisp" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-10-12. http://www.dreamsongs.com/NewFiles/HOPL2-Uncut.pdf

  32. "Eligis: OpenLisp, ISLISP, ISO Lisp". Retrieved 7 April 2018. http://www.eligis.com/index.html

  33. "Owl Lisp". Retrieved 2020-02-04. https://haltp.org/posts/owl.html

  34. Burger, Alexander. "Internal structures". software-lab.de. Retrieved 18 March 2016. http://software-lab.de/doc64/structures

  35. "Welcome to Racket". Retrieved 2011-08-15. http://docs.racket-lang.org/guide/intro.html

  36. "Dialects of Racket and Scheme". Retrieved 2011-08-15. http://docs.racket-lang.org/guide/dialects.html

  37. Steele, Guy L. Jr. (1981). Common Lisp the Language, 2nd Ed. Digital Press. ISBN 978-1-55558-041-4. Common Lisp is a new dialect of Lisp, a successor to MacLisp, influenced strongly by ZetaLisp and to some extent by Scheme and InterLisp. 978-1-55558-041-4

  38. Barnes, T.J. (1990). "SKILL: a CAD system extension language". Design Automation Conference, 1990. Proceedings., 27th ACM/IEEE. DAC'90. doi:10.1109/DAC.1990.114865. /wiki/Design_Automation_Conference

  39. "The T Project". Jonathan Rees. Retrieved 18 March 2016. http://mumble.net/~jar/tproject/

  40. "TXR Language". Kaz Kylheku. Retrieved 31 August 2017. http://nongnu.org/txr/