ECLderived

ECLderived is a term used in some Lisp development communities to refer to a family of libraries, tools, and modules that are derived from the Embeddable Common Lisp (ECL) core. It describes components that extend ECL’s functionality while preserving its cross-platform nature and the ability to interface with C and other languages. ECLderived items are generally designed to remain compatible with standard Common Lisp semantics, while offering practical enhancements for real-world projects.

Architecturally, ECLderived components are typically built as modular add-ons that hook into the ECL runtime through its foreign function interface and native code pathways. They often provide wrappers for external libraries, streamlined boilerplate for common FFI tasks, and macro-based utilities that support domain-specific languages, code generation, or performance-tuned abstractions. The goal is to accelerate development and improve interoperability without sacrificing ECL’s portability.

Common use cases for ECLderived include high-performance numeric or scientific computing, bridging Lisp with existing C libraries, and creating lightweight DSLs that can be compiled or evaluated within the ECL environment. Developers may publish ECLderived modules as part of open-source projects or internal tooling, emphasizing code reuse, testing, and maintainability.

Because ECLderived is not an official standard, its scope and implementation vary across projects. It is typically an informal designation used by developers to describe extensions that are clearly descended from ECL but not part of the core distribution. See also Embeddable Common Lisp, CFFI, and Lisp derivatives.