Overview of MC/LISP System

A LISP system called MC/ LISP is described. It was developed as part of a multiple programming environment, a platform on which new programming paradigms are experimented. In this paper we focus on the implementation issues of MC/LISP. The model that MC/LISP is based on is characterized by two stacks, i.e. frame and control stacks and a single heap. It is a model that is intended to be implemented on stock hardware. We present the overall structure of MC/LISP together with the discussions which lead us to adopt the structure. The semantics of LISP programs as viewed in MC/LISP is described in two ways. We first give a brief description of the formal semantics of MC/LlSP which faithfully models the implementation. It corresponds to the description of the interpreter of MC/LISP. We then discuss compilation methods based on program transfor-mation. The two descriptions are intended to give abstract view of the computing model embodied in MC/ LISP.