read-eval-print loop

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

read-eval-print loop

   <language, LISP, programming> (REPL) A programming {structure}
   within {LISP} which repeatedly reads a {form} from the {user},
   evaluates it, and displays the result.

   A read-eval-print {loop} forms the basis of the {Top-Level}
   {shell} that programmers of the LISP family of languages
   interact with.

   In many dialects of LISP a very simple REPL could be
   implemented as:

   	(loop (print (eval (read)))).

   (2003-06-23)