Kent Pitman
Encyclopedia
Kent M. Pitman is the President of HyperMeta, Inc. and has been involved for many years in the design, implementation and use of Lisp
and Scheme systems. He is often better known by his initials KMP.
Kent Pitman is the author of the Common Lisp Condition System
as well as of numerous papers on Lisp programming and computer programming
in general.
He was a technical contributor to X3J13
, the ANSI
subcommittee that standardized Common Lisp
and contributed to the design of the programming language. He prepared the document that became ANSI Common Lisp
, the Common Lisp HyperSpec (a hypertext conversion of the standard), and the document that became ISO
ISLISP
. Kent champions a new paradigm for standards called Substandards; as a background task, he's working on a prototype, but because of his busy work schedule he has not yet deployed it.
Kent Pitman is also the author of Another Way Out, a parody
of the CBS
Daytime series The Young and the Restless
.
He can often be found on the Usenet
newsgroup
comp.lang.lisp,
where he contributes not only expertise in Lisp and computer programming,
but also an authoritative perspective on Lisp's evolution and Common Lisp's standardization.
In some posts there, he has expressed his opinion on open-source software
,
including open source implementations of Lisp and Scheme,
as something that should be judged individually on its essential merits, rather than
automatically considered good merely by the fact of being free or open.
Lisp programming language
Lisp is a family of computer programming languages with a long history and a distinctive, fully parenthesized syntax. Originally specified in 1958, Lisp is the second-oldest high-level programming language in widespread use today; only Fortran is older...
and Scheme systems. He is often better known by his initials KMP.
Kent Pitman is the author of the Common Lisp Condition System
as well as of numerous papers on Lisp programming and computer programming
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
in general.
He was a technical contributor to X3J13
X3J13
X3J13 is the name of a technical committee which was part of INCITS . The X3J13 committee was formed in 1986 to draw up an ANSI Common Lisp standard based on the first edition of the book Common Lisp the Language , by Guy L. Steele, Jr., which was previously a de facto standard for the language...
, the ANSI
American National Standards Institute
The American National Standards Institute is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organization also coordinates U.S. standards with international...
subcommittee that standardized Common Lisp
Common Lisp
Common Lisp, commonly abbreviated CL, is a dialect of the Lisp programming language, published in ANSI standard document ANSI INCITS 226-1994 , . From the ANSI Common Lisp standard the Common Lisp HyperSpec has been derived for use with web browsers...
and contributed to the design of the programming language. He prepared the document that became ANSI Common Lisp
Common Lisp
Common Lisp, commonly abbreviated CL, is a dialect of the Lisp programming language, published in ANSI standard document ANSI INCITS 226-1994 , . From the ANSI Common Lisp standard the Common Lisp HyperSpec has been derived for use with web browsers...
, the Common Lisp HyperSpec (a hypertext conversion of the standard), and the document that became ISO
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
ISLISP
ISLISP
ISLISP is a programming language in the LISP family standardized by ISO working group ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 16 . The primary output of this working group was an International Standard, ISO/IEC 13816:1997, published by ISO. The standard was updated in 2007 and republished as ISO/IEC 13816:2007...
. Kent champions a new paradigm for standards called Substandards; as a background task, he's working on a prototype, but because of his busy work schedule he has not yet deployed it.
Kent Pitman is also the author of Another Way Out, a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
Daytime series The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
.
He can often be found on the Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
comp.lang.lisp,
where he contributes not only expertise in Lisp and computer programming,
but also an authoritative perspective on Lisp's evolution and Common Lisp's standardization.
In some posts there, he has expressed his opinion on open-source software
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
,
including open source implementations of Lisp and Scheme,
as something that should be judged individually on its essential merits, rather than
automatically considered good merely by the fact of being free or open.