KBSA Configuration Manager.

Abstract : In order to offer superior change and configuration management for the evolution of the considerable amount of KBSA software written in Common Lisp, we extended the Artifacts System to support Common Lisp. This involved the addition of the artifact types clisp-source (to hold fragments of source), clisp-module (corresponding to compilation units), and clisp-program (to specify an overall executable), as well as the derivative classes clisp-text (corresponding to the type clisp-source), clisp-file (input to the compiler), and clisp-spec (interface specification). It also involved setting up a Lisp Worker, the apparatus which allows one to write a deriver in Common Lisp. In spite of apparent major differences between Common Lisp and C, Common Lisp artifacts as developed under this contract and C artifacts developed previously share both a common user view and a considerable amount of implementation. Indeed, part of the work on the contract went into generalizing the underlying machinery to maximize commonality of the implementation. This same machinery is now being used at Harvard University to support a new language for parallel machines. Part of the work on this contract involved developing a new graphical editor for activity descriptions. This editor has the property of being programmable using a combination of EMACS Lisp and Post Script.