((lambda (discussions) (report on X3J13)) (purposes))

X3Ji3, the technical committee for the standardization of Common Lisp, is moving ahead in a number of areas. At the meeting in Palo Alto (March 1618, 1987) there was a long presentation and discussion on the object system proposal. The object system proposal has evolved from a number of different proposals all of which had individual names and all of which had their strong proponents. Some of the initial discussions seemed to be centered around what we would call it and thereby which group would get more credit for proposing it. The committee working on this proposal has made a lot of progress and developed an approach that draws many of the best ideas together. This approach now seems to be so much a part of the way people are thinking about the language that what to call it no longer seems to be a topic for discussion. I think this is a very positive sign about the mutual support for this proposal.