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Armed Bear Common Lisp VS CLISP

Compare Armed Bear Common Lisp VS CLISP and see what are their differences

Armed Bear Common Lisp logo Armed Bear Common Lisp

Armed Bear Common Lisp (ABCL) is a full implementation of the Common Lisp language featuring both...

CLISP logo CLISP

CLISP is a portable ANSI Common Lisp implementation and development environment by Bruno Haible.
  • Armed Bear Common Lisp Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-15
  • CLISP Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-03-19

Armed Bear Common Lisp features and specs

  • Java Platform Integration
    Armed Bear Common Lisp (ABCL) runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), allowing seamless integration with Java libraries and applications. This makes it easier to reuse existing Java code and tools, and to interact with Java-based environments.
  • Cross-platform Compatibility
    Being JVM-based, ABCL can run on any platform that supports Java, providing excellent cross-platform compatibility. This eliminates the need to worry about platform-specific issues.
  • Rich Library Support
    ABCL can leverage the vast ecosystem of Java libraries, greatly expanding the range of functionality available to Lisp programmers. This makes it more versatile when developing complex applications.
  • Active Development
    ABCL is actively maintained and developed, ensuring it stays up-to-date with improvements and bug fixes. This active development provides confidence in its reliability for production use.

Possible disadvantages of Armed Bear Common Lisp

  • Performance Overheads
    Running on the JVM introduces additional layers, which may result in performance overhead compared to natively compiled Common Lisp implementations. This might be a concern for performance-critical applications.
  • Java Dependency
    ABCL's reliance on the JVM can be a downside if a project's dependencies need to be minimized or if there are licensing issues with using Java in certain environments.
  • Limited Tooling
    Compared to some other Lisp implementations, ABCL might have limited support for Common Lisp-specific development tools and extensions, potentially affecting developer productivity.
  • Complexity of Interoperability
    Although ABCL allows integration with Java, this interoperability can introduce additional complexity, especially if developers are not familiar with the Java ecosystem.

CLISP features and specs

  • Cross-platform compatibility
    CLISP is available on multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux, which makes it versatile and accessible for developers across different operating systems.
  • GNU Licensing
    Being licensed under the GNU General Public License, CLISP is free to use, modify, and distribute, which is beneficial for open-source projects and encourages community contributions.
  • Interpreter environment
    CLISP offers an interactive interpreter environment, allowing for rapid testing and prototyping of code, which can speed up development and debugging processes.
  • ANSI Common Lisp compliance
    CLISP adheres to the ANSI Common Lisp standard, ensuring that programs written in CLISP are compliant with the standard and thus more portable and reliable.

Possible disadvantages of CLISP

  • Performance limitations
    Compared to other Lisp implementations like SBCL, CLISP might exhibit slower performance, which can be a drawback for computation-heavy applications.
  • Limited support for external libraries
    CLISP may have limited or less convenient access to certain external libraries or advanced features compared to other implementations, potentially making integration with other systems or technologies more challenging.
  • Outdated documentation
    Some of CLISP's documentation and resources might be outdated, which can pose challenges for new users trying to learn and resolve issues using the available materials.
  • Less active community
    Compared to more popular Lisp systems, CLISP might have a smaller or less active community, which can result in fewer community-contributed resources or slower developments and updates.

Armed Bear Common Lisp videos

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CLISP videos

GNU CLISP - Brief introduction to install and setup of an artificially intelligent environment

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Armed Bear Common Lisp and CLISP)
IDE
48 48%
52% 52
Programming Language
41 41%
59% 59
OOP
37 37%
63% 63
Text Editors
47 47%
53% 53

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Armed Bear Common Lisp should be more popular than CLISP. It has been mentiond 4 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Armed Bear Common Lisp mentions (4)

  • Ask HN: Which Lisp has the best TUI libraries?
    ABCl (Armed Bear Common Lisp) is a Common Lisp that runs in the JVM. https://common-lisp.net/project/armedbear/. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
  • In your opinion, what functional programming language is most suitable for scientific / numerical computing?
    It would be good to remember that just because something runs on the jvm doesn't mean it's Java. Hell there is a common lisp that runs on the JVM (armored bear common lisp). Source: over 3 years ago
  • Machine Learning in Lisp
    In Common Lisp, - native or FFI, there are a couple of libraries: see https://github.com/CodyReichert/awesome-cl#machine-learning - besides C, there is a way to interface with Java: https://github.com/CodyReichert/awesome-cl#java ; as well as an implementation abcl that runs over JVM - there are two ways to interact with python: https://github.com/CodyReichert/awesome-cl#python - using CFFI vs streams. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Lisp as an Alternative to Java
    Like this? https://common-lisp.net/project/armedbear/. - Source: Hacker News / about 4 years ago

CLISP mentions (1)

  • What are the advantages for an imperative language to not be expression based?
    CLisp is an unfortunate contraction, also naming an implementation, but yes, the Common Lisp spec is that big. Source: over 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Armed Bear Common Lisp and CLISP, you can also consider the following products

Steel Bank Common Lisp - Steel Bank Common Lisp (SBCL) is a high performance Common Lisp compiler.

CMU Common Lisp - CMUCL is a high-performance, free Common Lisp implementation.

Clozure Common Lisp - Clozure CL (often called CCL for short) is a free Common Lisp implementation with a long history.

Hy - Hy is a wonderful dialect of Lisp that’s embedded in Python.

Allegro CL - Leading commercial Enterprise Development Tools and dynamic object-oriented Common Lisp development tools including Allegro CL with AllegroCache, an Object Database that provides Object Persistence in Lisp, native to the Lisp langauge.

ManKai Common Lisp - ManKai Common Lisp (MKCL) aims to be a full implementation of the Common Lisp language in...