Timeline Overview
April 1992: The first Dylan Language Specification is released. It proposes a Lisp-like syntax for the new language.
Sep. 1992: Andrew L. M. Shalit, a member of the Apple Cambridge Research Laboratory, announces the creation of an electronic mailing list for discussion of the Dylan programming language.
Jan. 1993: Jonathan Bachrach writes to comp.lang.dylan: "I am trying to start a Dylan programming revolution at my work." Scott Fahlman, the Dylan project leader at Carnegie Mellon replies: "The best strategy is probably to wait until Dylan is real (and maybe help it to become real)..." ( Quotation from comp.lang.dylan ).
April 1993: Release of the first Dylan FAQ.
Sep. 1993: Bachrach presents a High-Performance Dylan Implementation at the International Computer Music Conference at Waseda University.
Sep. 1993: The first public domain Dylan compiler, written by Bachrach, is unveiled at MacWorld. "e built the first implementation as a set of macros for the Python LISP compiler. In the following months, the elements of his macro set were transformed from macros into LISP, and later into Dylan itself." Quotation from MacTech
June 1994: Robert Stockton announces an online browsable version of the new Dylan Interim Reference Manual. At Carnegie Mellon, the Dylan project is called the Gwydion Project. Headed by Fahlmann, it includes many of the same people responsible for CMU Common Lisp.
May 1994: MacTech reports on the SFA meeting Atlanta: "Ike Nassi used to run Apple's Advanced Technology group in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Dylan originated. Now vice president of Apple's Development Products group, Nassi has made one of his goals the establishment of OODLs (object oriented dynamic languages) as a mainstream programming paradigm. He also stated that Dylan was "in use at Apple today". Andrew Shalitt stated that Dylan has moved into product development. It was hinted that third parties were at work on development environments; nothing specific was said about what such an environment might look like. Dylan received a new infix syntax. Syntax surveys were distributed at the conference to help the language designers finalize their decisions. Andrew's presentation included a number of examples of Dylan code." Quoted from MacTech.
August 1994: After Apple distributes Dylan CDs at WWDC, folk singer Bob Dylan sues Apple for trademark infringement.
Oct. 1995: It is announced that the Cambridge Dylan project will be terminated and its staff laid off.
Dec. 1995: Russ Daniels, the interim Apple engineering manager for Dylan in Cupertino, announces that Digitool, Inc. will port Apple's Dylan Technology Release to PowerPC Macintosh Common Lisp (MCL).
Jan. 1996: Apple shuts down the Cambridge R&D Group permanently. The site cambridge.apple.com disappears.
Aug. 1996: Apple ships PowerPC-native Dylan (ported by Digitool). Quoted from Digitool
Sep. 1998: Fahlman announces that Dylan has been turned over to Harlequin: "In fact, if not in theory, Dylan is now completely in Harlequin's hands. Apple is no longer involved with Dylan, nor is the CMU Gwydion project. Some dedicated volunteers are working to improve the Gwydion version, and there may still be a couple of one-person implementation efforts, but whatever Harlequin does will define what Dylan is. Harlequin wants Dylan to succeed, and presumably they will do the things that they think are most important for Dylan's acceptance." ( Scott Fahlmann on comp.lang.dylan ).
Oct. 1998: Harlequin Dylan 1.1 was announced at OOPSLA 1998 in Vancouver.
1998/1999: A group of volunteers picks up CMU's Gwydion sources. The website GwydionDylan becomes a base for Dylan enthusiasts.
March 1999: Andrew Shalit announced the Service Pack 1 for Harlequin Dylan 1.2 in the dylan newsgroup.
Sep. 1999: Global Graphics, the new owner of Harlequin, Inc., announces the divestiture of Harlequin Dylan and the transfer of the product to Functional Objects.
July 2000: Functional Objects announces the availability of Functional Developer 2.0.1 and 2.0 service pack 1.
2003: Functional Objects opensources its internal Dylan repository to the Open Dylan Community.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Dylan Programming Language