- First name: Geoffrey 
  
- Last name: Knauth 
  
- Email address: REMOVED
  
- Home page: http://knauth.org/gsk 
  
- Phone number(s): 570-326-3822 
  
- Postal code: 17701-2052 
  
- City: Williamsport, PA 
  
- Country: USA 
  
- Organization(s) you work for or study at 
  (please supply the name and city for each organization): 
  
SFA, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA 
  
Free Software Foundation, Boston, MA  (Treasurer) 
  
- Fields of interest 
  (e.g. computer linguistics, numerical analysis, business software, 
  medicine, bioinformatics): 
  
simulation and modeling 
logistics planning and dynamic replanning 
decision science 
mapping 
search and rescue 
  
- Have you written any Lisp-related papers? If so, please supply 
  bibliographical references (and URL's, if possible). 
  
(co-wrote with other authors) 
  
Leveraging Libraries in Lightweight Languages:  the Jscheme Experience,  
Or Why Bambi Snuggles with Godzilla 
http://ll2.ai.mit.edu/talks/bbnll2/index.html 
  
ICIS: Redeploying a Military Logistics System to the Web 
http://servlet.java.sun.com/javaone/sf2002/conf/sessions/display-1509.en.jsp 
  
  
- Have you developed or participated in the development of any 
  Lisp-related programs or libraries? If so, please supply a URL, 
  if possible. 
  
- Lisp variants you have used (e.g. Common Lisp, Scheme, Dylan): 
  
Scheme, JScheme, Common Lisp 
  
- Lisp variants you're currently using or intend to use in the 
  near future: 
  
Scheme, JScheme, Common Lisp 
  
- Lisp implementations you have used 
  (e.g. CMUCL, Lispworks, Allegro Common Lisp): 
  
CMUCL, SBCL 
PLT Scheme, MIT/GNU Scheme 
JScheme 
  
- Lisp implementations you're currently using or intend to use 
  in the near future: 
  
CMUCL, SBCL 
PLT Scheme, MIT/GNU Scheme 
JScheme 
  
Lispworks or Allegro Common Lisp for large commercial projects. 
  
- Computer platforms on which you're using or deploying Lisp: 
  
GNU/Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X 
  
- Number of years of experience with Lisp: 
  
Hard to say, really.  It's been on and off since 1980.  Around a 
total  of 5 years in all. 
  
- Do you use Lisp: 
  - at work (if so, how much) 
  
I used it at work when I was at BBN.  Currently I use JScheme 
for  prototyping things in Java. 
  
  - for study (if so, how much) 
  
I read numerous Lisp/Scheme books and papers in my spare time. 
  
  - as a hobby (if so, how much) 
  
As much as I can.  It promotes good thinking. 
  
- Are you using Lisp as much as you would like to?  No. 
  If not, why not? 
  
1.  I would certainly use it more if my employer were up to it. 
2.  I don't have enough spare time to do as much "fun" Lisp 
programming  as I'd like. 
  
- Do you see any obstacles to further Lisp growth (if so, what 
  is the biggest obstacle in your opinion)? 
  
Fragmentation.  I mean, if I write something in JScheme to leverage 
all  the JAR files in the Java world, and I think of reimplementing 
it in  PLT Scheme, suddenly I have to contemplate writing new 
modules to  handle things I could just "borrow" from Java's good 
coverage of all  the latest protocols for data handling.  The good 
news is that PLT is  very active and the situation is improving. 
  
Common Lisp has less fragmentation, but its rich functionality was  
designed more than a decade ago and sometimes feels behind the times. 
  
- Would you be interested in a Lisp-related job or contract work? 
  
Of course, yes. 
  
- Is your organization interested in hiring Lisp programmers? 
  
That's a tough sell.  These days, firms are pretty conservative.  
Java  is perceived as "safe" (in the business sense), so we do a 
lot of Java.   Java has the advantage that many, many people have 
created JAR files  that allow programmers to focus on new tasks. 
  
- Are you currently participating in Lisp-related meetings? 
  
I would if I still lived in Boston, but out here in central  
Pennsylvania, I only know a couple of people who've even heard of 
Lisp,  or computer science, for that matter.  Thank goodness for the 
Internet. 
  
If so, where and how often? 
  
Last year (2003) I went to the Scheme Workshop in Boston and the  
International Lisp Conference in New York. 
  
I'll go to any conference that is within reach and doesn't have a  
schedule conflict with work or family activities. 
  
  If not, would you be interested in such meetings? 
  
Of course, yes.