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C00002 00002		The following is a brief introduction to the use of
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	The following is a brief introduction to the use of
MACLISP at SAIL.
	One can run MACLISP  by saying R  MACLSP; allocation is  much
the same as in the other local  LISPs. To input a file named  FOO.BAR
one says: (UREAD  FOO BAR) or  (UREAD FOO BAR  DSK (BLE TCH)).   This
opens the file in  the correct mode but  does not begin reading.   In
order to read the file, one must set the flag ↑Q (control-Q) to T, by
either (SETQ ↑Q T), (IOC Q), OR ↑Q typed to the toplevel of  MACLISP.
When the file is complete, the TTY becomes the input device. To  read
from a file within  a program, one  does the same  thing, but the  ↑Q
option fails. Unfortunately, UREAD assumes a non-E file. To UREAD  an
E-file (or a non-E file for that matter) one can use EREAD.  When one
does (EREAD FOO  BAR) (SETQ ↑Q  T), then all  MACLISP read  routines,
such as (READ),(TYI), &  (TYIPEEK) will read  from the selected  disk
file.
	To write to a file one does (UWRITE) with no arguments;  this
opens a file for writing with a name like 019RPG.LSP where 19 is  one
of your job numbers and RPG is your PN. ↑R is the flag for output  to
disk. Note that this does not shut  off output to the screen; use  ↑R
for that. Now one must name the output file by doing (UFILE FOO BAR),
which deletes any files  with the same name,  and renames the  output
file to FOO.BAR. As with EREAD, all print routines will now print  to
the selected file.
	Sometimes you may  encounter an error, and a  breakpoint will
occur.  Usually the information that  is typed will alert  you to the
cause of the error; if  not, you should read HELP.DOC[AID,RPG] for  a
description of the  debugging possibilities. However, to  get back to
the  toplevel of MACLISP  you type: ↑G or  (IOC G).   If the error is
unbound variable, one can say (RETURN '(<VALUE>)) to continue.
	A very useful file  to have is  HELP.FAS[MAC,LSP] if you  do:
(HELP),(FASLOAD HELP FAS DSK  (MAC LSP)), or COPY  this file to  your
directory and do (FASLOAD HELP) an "AUTOLOAD" property will be set up
for all of the interesting functions mentioned in  HELP.DOC[AID,RPG].
An AUTOLOAD property is a property  list entry which has a file  name
as its value. If one tries to apply the function with this  property,
and there is no such function, MACLISP will FASLOAD the file and then
try to apply the function once  more, the point being that this  file
should contain a FASLOADable definition of the function.
        A feature of  BIBOP is  that  EREAD  and  HELP  already  have
autoload   properties  set  up  from  the   outset,  so   that  doing
(EREAD FOO BAR) will work, and (HELP) will load the HELP features.
        At  this point you  may wonder  what FASLOAD  means. Normally
when one compiles LISP, one gets in  return a LAP file which is  then
read in with a  small resident assembler. This is  indeed possible to
do  in  MACLISP, but  the compiler  can  also assemble  the  LAP file
directly into  a  relocatable file  which  can  then be  loaded  into
MACLISP  with an  even smaller  resident loader.  The gains  are that
FASLOAD  file are an order of magnitude  smaller and load an order of
magnitude faster.
	The MACLISP compiler is called NCOMPLR  (for Number COMPiLeR)
and  is noted for  being the  "best" LISP  compiler in  existence. In
particular there are facilities for declaring the types of objects so
that a  fair amount of  open-coding is  possible; this is  especially
nice for numerical  computations (hence the "N" in NCOMPLR). For more
information on this either locate an old MACLISP manual or ask RPG or
WLS.
	To compile a file do:
		R NCOMPLR
		<target>←FN.EXT<(SWITCHES)>

The <target>  is optional  and defaults  accordding to the  switches.
Briefly the switches are:
	T 	Talk: verbose mode
	A	Assemble: take a .LAP file and assemble it
	F	Fasload: take a source file and compile & assemble it
	K  	Kill: take a source file and compile & assemble it but 
		kill the LAP file
The default names  are FN.LAP for a  compiled file and FN.FAS  for an
assembled file.  NCOMPLR understands ALIASes.
	Hopfully a new manual will appear from MIT, but for now there
are  three known manuals at  SAIL. RPG and  WLS have 1  each, and the
bookshelf which used to be  outside Lester's office has one. For  now
you    can    read    MACLSP.DM[UP,DOC]    HELP.DOC[AID,RPG],    and
LISP.NEW[AID,RPG], or ask RPG/WLS.