CL is not image based. That's a popular implementation detail.
There are several implementations which are not image based. If we look closely we would find probably ten CL implementations which are not image-based of which maybe five are still somewhat in use. The Common Lisp standard also says absolutely nothing about programs/applications/images/libraries...
A prominent example for a CL implementation which is not image-based is ECL, Embeddable Common-Lisp:
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Traditionally, Common Lisp implemenations have provided a function to save the dump all data from a running Lisp process into a file. The result was called the Lisp image and could be shipped to other version compatible implementations.Nowadays, having less control of the systems it runs in, a Lisp implementation must work very hard to dump memory images and be able to load and execute them afterwards.
ECL has chosen to avoid this process entirely. Instead, we conceive five different portable models for building and shippin your programs. The models, described in Table 1.1, enumerate the different kinds of files that ECL can portably produce. To get one or more of the products mentioned in the table, you may resort to a low level API described in Part III. However, we recommend a simpler way based on using System Definition Files to describe the structure of your project and let ECL build the desired target for you. This approach is described in the following sections.
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CL is not image based. That's a popular implementation detail.
There are several implementations which are not image based. If we look closely we would find probably ten CL implementations which are not image-based of which maybe five are still somewhat in use. The Common Lisp standard also says absolutely nothing about programs/applications/images/libraries...
A prominent example for a CL implementation which is not image-based is ECL, Embeddable Common-Lisp:
https://common-lisp.net/project/ecl/static/manual/ch26.html
--- Traditionally, Common Lisp implemenations have provided a function to save the dump all data from a running Lisp process into a file. The result was called the Lisp image and could be shipped to other version compatible implementations.Nowadays, having less control of the systems it runs in, a Lisp implementation must work very hard to dump memory images and be able to load and execute them afterwards.
ECL has chosen to avoid this process entirely. Instead, we conceive five different portable models for building and shippin your programs. The models, described in Table 1.1, enumerate the different kinds of files that ECL can portably produce. To get one or more of the products mentioned in the table, you may resort to a low level API described in Part III. However, we recommend a simpler way based on using System Definition Files to describe the structure of your project and let ECL build the desired target for you. This approach is described in the following sections. ---