Path: ...!news.mixmin.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: Re: Lisp history: IF, etc.
Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2024 17:29:32 -0700
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 12
Message-ID: <87frw03b4j.fsf@nightsong.com>
References: <uu54la$3su5b$6@dont-email.me> <20240329084454.0000090f@gmail.com>
	<uu6om5$cmv8$1@dont-email.me> <20240329101248.556@kylheku.com>
	<uu6t9h$dq4d$1@dont-email.me> <20240329104716.777@kylheku.com>
	<uu8p02$uebm$1@dont-email.me> <20240330112105.553@kylheku.com>
	<uudrfg$2cskm$1@dont-email.me> <87r0fp8lab.fsf@tudado.org>
	<uuehdj$2hshe$1@dont-email.me> <87wmpg7gpg.fsf@tudado.org>
	<LISP-20240402085115@ram.dialup.fu-berlin.de>
	<20240402084057.881@kylheku.com>
	<86h6gjpq3i.fsf_-_@williamsburg.bawden.org>
	<m3frw2vlok.fsf@leonis4.robolove.meer.net>
	<86cyr6pb2l.fsf@williamsburg.bawden.org>
	<875xwy412p.fsf@nightsong.com>
	<868r1up0wk.fsf@williamsburg.bawden.org>
	<871q7m3wrj.fsf@nightsong.com>
	<86zfu9ooux.fsf@williamsburg.bawden.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Injection-Date: Fri, 05 Apr 2024 00:29:32 +0200 (CEST)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="0cd50da188300f57c9591f8ff8e9eb24";
	logging-data="1022670"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+OuNSmgQjyvsE30r/JIgNv"
User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/27.1 (gnu/linux)
Cancel-Lock: sha1:sasANOfhf5AkgSMrpXF+06bH2Og=
	sha1:cKBRw83T8DfApfXOVDgHTDixes8=
Bytes: 2302

Alan Bawden <alan@csail.mit.edu> writes:
> It's a common misconception that McCarthy was trying to turn Lambda
> Calculus into a programming language. ...  He added LAMBDA (and LABEL)
> because he needed LAMBDA in order to define recursive functions, but
> as he himself often admitted, he didn't really understand Lambda
> Calculus, he just needed the notation.  

I see, yes, and this is confirmed by his History of Lisp article.  His
Wikipedia biography also surprised me a bit.  For some reason I had
thought of him as an academic mathematical logician who later somehow
got involved with computers, but it was more like the other way around.
Thanks.