The Medley Interlisp Project
LightNews LightNews
banner
interlisp.org
The Medley Interlisp Project
@interlisp.org
53 followers 4 following 170 posts
Official account of the open source project to preserve, revive, and modernize Medley Interlisp. This extensible graphical operating and programming environment has roots in Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

https://interlisp.org
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
interlisp.org
The Medley Interlisp Project @interlisp.org · Dec 12
Hello from the Medley Interlisp Project! We revive and modernize the Medley Interlisp extensible graphical operating and programming environment created at Xerox PARC.

interlisp.org

1/2
Screenshot of the black and white desktop of a 1980s graphical workstation environment. The desktop has a gray background pattern and several windows with a white background and a title bar with white text on a black background. The windows display text, bitmaps, graphs, icons, sketches, and other graphical documents and elements.
interlisp.org
To move most windows on Medley Interlisp click the title bar and drag, to resize click a lower corner and drag. These recent modernization features are in addition to the corresponding Move and Reshape items of the classic right-click title bar menu.

#interlisp #gui #lisp
December 4, 2025 at 9:57 AM
interlisp.org
We published Medley Interlisp for the Newcomer, a new primer that eases users into the Interlisp environment. It covers the user interface, programming, graphics, and more.

The primer is a living document and we welcome your feedback.

primer.interlisp.org

#interlisp #lisp #retrocomputing
Before You Begin | Medley Interlisp for the Newcomer
primer.interlisp.org
December 1, 2025 at 10:04 AM
interlisp.org
Interlisp uses the "spaghetti stack", an access and control mechanism more general than a linear stack. Control constructs such as generators, coroutines, and possibilities lists are applications of the spaghetti stack.

interlisp.org/documentatio...

#interlisp #retrocomputing
interlisp.org
November 28, 2025 at 9:22 PM
interlisp.org
In the 1980s Interlisp-D came with a read-only remote desktop client for monitoring networked Lisp workstations, like in the screenshot. Medley Interlisp still includes the code which doesn't currently work.

files.interlisp.org/medley/lispu...

#interlisp #RemoteDesktop #retrocomputing
Screenshot of the black and white desktop of a 1980s graphical workstation environment. The desktop has a gray background pattern and some windows with a white background and a title bar with white text on a black background. The screen shows a scaled down version of the entire remote screen of an Interlisp-D workstation, and a small section at full size which can be moved around.
November 26, 2025 at 11:24 AM
interlisp.org
How long have you been using Lisp? Any dialect, including Emacs Lisp.

1. less than 1 year
2. 1-3 years
3. more than 3 years
4. I don't use Lisp

#interlisp #lisp #ProgLang
November 23, 2025 at 10:20 AM
interlisp.org
Interlisp source files embed control codes to style the code viewed in the Medley environment, which displays the proper fonts and text attributes. To view the formatted code on modern systems run the "lsee" shell script from a terminal.

github.com/Interlisp/me...

#interlisp #lisp #linux
Screenshot of a Linux terminal window that displays a portion of an Interlisp source file. The code is formatted with syntax highlighting and text colored in white, red, green, and yellow.
November 20, 2025 at 9:03 AM
interlisp.org
Gauges is a class library of the LOOPS Interlisp object extension (Lisp Object-Oriented Programming System). It provides meters, dials, scales, and other graphical user interface elements for monitoring and displaying data.

files.interlisp.org/medley/loops...

#interlisp #oop #lisp #retrocomputing
files.interlisp.org
November 17, 2025 at 7:32 PM
interlisp.org
We are redesigning the Interlisp bibliography for improved browsing and more informative entries. It's a work in progress and your feedback is welcome.

interlisp.org/history/bibl...

#bibliography #interlisp #lisp #retrocomputing
Bibliography
(This bibliography is kept in sync with our Zotero collection Library.
interlisp.org
November 14, 2025 at 9:26 AM
interlisp.org
Ryan Burnside entered the Autumn Lisp Game Jam 2025 with Interlisp Hungarian Rings, a puzzle he wrote in Interlisp. The project page provides instructions for downloading and playing the game:

itch.io/jam/autumn-l...

#LispGameJam #interlisp #lisp #game
Rate Interlisp Hungarian Rings by Pixel_Outlaw for Autumn Lisp Game Jam 2025
My second game using the Medley Interlisp environment
itch.io
November 11, 2025 at 11:06 AM
interlisp.org
On World Digital Preservation Day 2025 Eleanor Young gave the virtual talk "The Medley Interlisp Project: Reviving a Historical Software System". The video recording and transcript are available here:

psu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/The+Me...

#WDPD2025 #interlisp #lisp #retrocomputing
The Medley Interlisp Project: Reviving a Historical Software System - Penn State MediaSpace
psu.mediaspace.kaltura.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:13 AM
interlisp.org
On World Digital Preservation Day, Nov 6, 2025, Eleanor Young will give the virtual talk The Medley Interlisp Project: Reviving a Historical Software System. Details:

www.dpconline.org/events/world...

About WDPD:

www.dpconline.org/events/world...

#WDPD2025 #interlisp #lisp #retrocomputing
World Digital Preservation Day Events 2025 - Digital Preservation Coalition
www.dpconline.org
November 5, 2025 at 10:26 AM
interlisp.org
These books document different aspects of the Medley Interlisp environment: the API and using the interactive tools.

Medley Interlisp: Interactive Programming Environment
interlisp.org/documentatio...

Medley Interlisp: Interactive Programming Tools
interlisp.org/documentatio...

#interlisp #lisp
interlisp.org
November 3, 2025 at 11:05 AM
interlisp.org
Codeberg deployed Forgejo v13.0.0 which now detects Interlisp sources and handles them as text rather than binary files. We thank Forgejo and Codeberg for widening the choice of code forges for hosting Interlisp software.

codeberg.org/forgejo/forg...

#interlisp #lisp #forgejo #codeberg #foss
forgejo
Beyond coding. We forge.
codeberg.org
October 31, 2025 at 10:20 AM
interlisp.org
To scroll a window on Medley Interlisp hover the mouse pointer slightly beyond the left or bottom edge to bring up a scroll bar, then left-click or right-click. Middle-clicking positions the thumb within the bar.

#interlisp #gui #retrocomputing
Screenshot of a portion of the black and white desktop of a 1980s graphical workstation environment. The desktop has a gray background pattern and one window with a white background and a title bar with white text on a black background. The window is a file browser with a main pane listing some files, status and input panes, and a command menu. The file list has a vertical scroll bar at the left edge. Screenshot of a portion of the black and white desktop of a 1980s graphical workstation environment. The desktop has a gray background pattern and one window with a white background and a title bar with white text on a black background. The window is a file browser with a main pane listing some files, status and input panes, and a command menu. The file list has a horizontal scroll bar at the bottom edge.
October 28, 2025 at 11:20 AM
interlisp.org
Published in 1986, "INTERLISP: The Language and Its Usage" by Stephen Kaisler was the only book on Interlisp by a publisher. It extensively covers the Interlisp language and environment with many code snippets and examples.

interlisp.org/documentatio...

#interlisp #lisp #retrocomputing #books
interlisp.org
October 25, 2025 at 10:50 AM
interlisp.org
We added "NoteCards User’s Guide" V2.0 to the NoteCards sources. This 1991 manual better matches the NoteCards code that comes with Medley Interlisp but some of the information is only of historical value.

files.interlisp.org/medley/notec...

#interlisp #NoteCards #hypertext #retrocomputing
Index page for {MEDLEY}/notecards/docs/user-guide-v2.0/
files.interlisp.org
October 22, 2025 at 10:21 AM
interlisp.org
Some 1980s Xerox Lisp Machines came with an IBM PC/XT card that allowed running MS-DOS from the Interlisp-D environment, like the spreadsheet program window here. Image from a flyer of the Xerox 1186 AI workstation.

groups.google.com/g/lispcore/c...

#interlisp #msdos #LispMachine #retrocomputing
Screenshot of the black and white desktop of a 1980s graphical workstation environment. The desktop has a gray background pattern and several windows with a white background and a title bar with white text on a black background. The windows display Lisp source code, icons, scientific and business charts, a spreadsheet program, a virtual keyboard, and other graphical elements.
October 19, 2025 at 9:30 AM
interlisp.org
To interactively edit a graph on Medley evaluate at an Interlisp REPL:

(SHOWGRAPH NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL T)

Right-click inside the window for a command menu, click STOP to exit. Right-click on the title bar and click Shape to resize the window.

Try here: online.interlisp.org/guest

#interlisp #lisp
Screenshot of a portion of the black and white desktop of a 1980s graphical workstation environment. The desktop has a gray background pattern and one window with a white background and a title bar with white text on a black background. The window is a graph editor with an open command menu providing the options Move Node, Add Node, Delete Node, Add Link, Delete Link, Change label, label smaller, label larger, Directed, Sides, Border, Shade, STOP. The window also shows a graph consisting of 2 nodes connected by a link.
October 16, 2025 at 9:37 AM
interlisp.org
Ryan Burnside designed some visual themes for Medley Interlisp by combining pairs of foreground and background colors. The file medley.sh provides commands for running Medley with the themes enabled.

github.com/RyanBurnside...

#interlisp #lisp
medley.sh
October 13, 2025 at 9:01 AM
interlisp.org
What do Alice's Restaurant and Bonnie and Clyde have to do with Interlisp? Find out in this post, which also features a cameo of Lynn Conway and John Osterhout.

www.markstefik.com?page_id=359

#interlisp #oop #retrocomputing
Truckin’ and the Knowledge Competitions | MJSBlog
MJSBlog - Workin on it
www.markstefik.com
October 10, 2025 at 9:15 AM
interlisp.org
Ryan Burnside cleaned up and published the Interlisp code of FIFTEEN, the 15 puzzle game he originally developed for the Spring Lisp Game Jam 2023.

github.com/RyanBurnside...

Ryan's original Game Jam submission:

itch.io/jam/spring-l...

#interlisp #game #lisp
GitHub - RyanBurnside/FIFTEEN: A sliding tile puzzle for Medley InterLisp
A sliding tile puzzle for Medley InterLisp. Contribute to RyanBurnside/FIFTEEN development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
October 7, 2025 at 9:05 AM
interlisp.org
In NoteCards a "tabletop card" is an arrangement of cards (hypertext nodes) on the screen, such as the 3 cards at the center.

1/2

#NoteCards #interlisp #hypertext #retrocomputing
Screenshot of the black and white desktop of a 1980s graphical workstation environment. The desktop has a gray background pattern and several windows with a white background and a title bar with white text on a black background. The windows display graph structures with nodes and links and other tools of a hypertext system.
October 4, 2025 at 9:18 AM
interlisp.org
In Interlisp the variable IT holds the value of the most recent event or expression evaluated at an Exec (REPL) and is similar to the variable * of Common Lisp. An example:

← (PLUS 5 3)
8
← (PLUS IT 2)
10

#interlisp #lisp
October 1, 2025 at 11:04 AM
interlisp.org
This 1983 Xerox PARC report documented the state of Interlisp at the time. It collected papers about the Interlisp environment and programming style, development status, and implementation.

bitsavers.org/pdf/xerox/pa...

#interlisp #lisp #retrocomputing
bitsavers.org
September 29, 2025 at 9:15 AM
interlisp.org
A NoteCards "browser" is a type of card that shows a hypertext network as a graph structure, i.e. a graph view like in this example. The thumbnail at the top left corner lets you pan and scroll the graph.

#NoteCards #Interlisp #hypertext #retrocomputing
Screenshot of the black and white desktop of a 1980s graphical workstation environment. The desktop has a gray background pattern and several windows with a white background and a title bar with white text on a black background. The windows display a graph structure with nodes and links and other tools of a hypertext system.
September 26, 2025 at 9:09 AM