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From: hbaker@netcom.com (Henry G. Baker)
Subject: Re: Macsyma works! [was: Re: working version of shrdlu]
Message-ID: <hbakerCy4sxt.6JC@netcom.com>
Organization: nil
References: <37vao0$e5l@manuel.anu.edu.au> <hbakerCxvM1E.BAq@netcom.com> <WGD.94Oct22165636@martigny.ai.mit.edu>
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 1994 15:13:05 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.lisp:15202 sci.math.symbolic:14845

In article <WGD.94Oct22165636@martigny.ai.mit.edu> wgd@zurich.ai.mit.edu (William G. Dubuque) writes:
> hbaker@netcom.com writes:
>  Hugh.Clapin@anu.edu.au writes:
>  >>I am looking for a copy of Terry Winograd's shrdlu that is up and
>  >>running on a reasonably accessible kind of machine (UNIX, Mac, PC etc). 
>
> >Shrdlu and Macsyma are nearly contemporary programs, so the work to make
> >shrdlu run [in CommonLisp] is similar to that for Macsyma.
>
>Macsyma was ported to CommonLisp a long, long time ago by Kent Pitman.

Of course I knew this, as I have used this port myself.

> >You should be aware that shrdlu never _really_ worked, in the same
> >sense that Macsyma did -- it was just a research prototype cobbled
> >together for a PhD thesis.
>
>The above statement about Macsyma 'never _really_ working' has to be
>one of the most outrageous remarks I've seen in a long time. Macsyma
>has worked quite admirably for almost three decades now. 

I think you should re-read the above statement again.  I didn't mean
to imply that Macsyma didn't work -- it works very well, indeed -- but
I only wished to say that shrdlu never reached the same degree of
polish that Macsyma did, because it was the product of essentially one
person, rather than the product of many, many people over the course
of a number of years.

Macsyma is a treasure, and one of the great triumphs of Lisp.  I had
no intention to denigrate it in any way in my posting.

      Henry Baker
      Read ftp.netcom.com:/pub/hbaker/README for info on ftp-able papers.

