(eval '(tlas))

One of my many summer projects is to spend some time working with Common Lisp. A year or so ago, I used OpenMCL, but some things didn't work the way I thought they should.... OpenMCL only runs on PowerPC-based Macs, so I'm looking at some other options, since I use an Intel Mac most of the time....

Friday, I downloaded SBCL (Steel Bank Common Lisp) and installed it on my laptop. It worked almost immediately! [I had to change some of its permissions---enable read of the image.] I installed LTK, a Common Lisp binding for the Tk graphics toolkit. It worked after I figured out some minor details. I also spent some time looking at trying to install an OpenGL binding, but ran into a stumbling block and will try again later. [It uses CFFI (The Common Foreign Function Interface) to bind OpenGL to Lisp. The OpenGL Lisp source uses DARCS to control access to the source---I didn't see a simple tar or some other archival file....]

(setq tlas '(CFFI DARCS SBCL LTK OpenGL OpenMCL ))

Not Dead!

It's been a pretty busy semester. Revising notes for two classes is more work than it should be coupled with all the other tasks of teaching (grading assignments, quizzes, and tests)....

It's also been busy (mostly for my wife) with the birth (premature) of a new grandchild--it's a girl! She was still in an isolette most of the time when we visited two weeks ago. Much to my surprise, the doctors let her go home three days later! I thought it would be another two weeks or so. Just goes to show how little I know about babies.

Other major events:

• The 50th anniversary of my parents.
• The marriage of my youngest stepson.

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Isolette (trademark): used for an incubator for premature infants that provides controlled temperature and humidity and an oxygen supply.