install

A very small LISP implementation with several packages and demo programs.

03aug07abu
(c) Software Lab. Alexander Burger


         Pico Lisp Installation
         ======================

There is no 'configure' procedure, but the Pico Lisp file structure is simple
enough to get along without it (we hope). It should compile and run on
GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X (Darwin), Cygwin/Win32, and possibly other systems
without problems.

By default, Pico Lisp installs completely in a local directory. No need to touch
any system locations, so you don't have to be root.

Note: In Cygwin, the directory where you unpack the distribution should be
mounted with the "managed" option, to avoid file name conflicts.


Please follow these steps:

1. Unpack the distribution

   $ tar xfz picoLisp-XXX.tgz

2. Change the directory

   $ cd picoLisp-XXX

3. Compile the Pico Lisp interpreter

   $ (cd src; make picolisp)

4. Optional (but recommended) are two symbolic links from /usr/lib and /usr/bin
   to the installation directory

   $ ln -s /<installdir> /usr/lib/picolisp
   $ ln -s /usr/lib/picolisp/bin/picolisp /usr/bin/picolisp


         Invocation
         ==========

The shell script 'p' is usually called to start up Pico Lisp, typically with
'dbg.l' to load the interactive debugging environment.

$ ./p dbg.l
:

The colon ':' is Pico's prompt. You may enter some Lisp expression,

: (+ 1 2 3)
-> 6

To exit the interpreter, you may enter

: (bye)

or simply type an empy line (Return).


         Documentation
         =============

For further information, please look at "doc/index.html". There you find the
Pico Lisp Reference Manual (doc/ref.html), the Pico Lisp tutorials (doc/tut.html
and doc/app.html), and the frequently asked questions (doc/faq.html).

As always, the most accurate and complete documentation is the source code ;-)
Included in the distribution are many utilities and pet projects, including
tests, demo databases and servers, games (chess, minesweeper), 3D animation
(flight simulator), and more.

Any feedback is welcome!
Hope you enjoy :-)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Alexander Burger
   Software Lab. / 7fach GmbH
   Bahnhofstr. 24a, D-86462 Langweid
   [e-mail], http://www.software-lab.de, [phone]