Lisp Machine Lisp is a dialect of the Lisp programming language. A direct descendant of Maclisp, it was initially developed in the mid to late 1970s as the systems programming language for the MIT Lisp machines. Lisp Machine Lisp was also the Lisp dialect with the most influence on the design of Common Lisp.Lisp Machine Lisp itself branched into three dialects. Symbolics named their variant ZetaLisp. Lisp Machines, Inc.