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Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it
From: |
Emanuel Berg |
Subject: |
Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it |
Date: |
Mon, 03 Apr 2023 05:34:33 +0200 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) |
Richard Stallman wrote:
> I think `null' was among the first Lisp functions to be
> imagined and given a name, at the very start of the
> invention of Lisp, before there was an implementation --
> along with `car', `cdr' and `cons'. The convention of naming
> predicates to end in `p' must have come after that.
As you know, but it's interesting to those who don't ...
(info "(eintr) Strange Names")
The name of the cons function is not unreasonable: it is an
abbreviation of the word "construct". The origins of the
names for car and cdr, on the other hand, are esoteric: car
is an acronym from the phrase "Contents of the Address part
of the Register"; and cdr (pronounced "could-er") is an
acronym from the phrase "Contents of the Decrement part of
the Register". These phrases refer to specific pieces of
hardware on the very early computer on which the original
Lisp was developed.
Hm ... That was in 1958? What kind of machine was that?
https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/eintr/Strange-Names.html
--
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https://dataswamp.org/~incal
- Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, Pedro Andres Aranda Gutierrez, 2023/04/01
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, tomas, 2023/04/01
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, Michael Albinus, 2023/04/01
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, Eli Zaretskii, 2023/04/01
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, Pedro Andres Aranda Gutierrez, 2023/04/01
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, Roland Winkler, 2023/04/02
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, Richard Stallman, 2023/04/02
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it,
Emanuel Berg <=
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, Andreas Schwab, 2023/04/03
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, Roland Winkler, 2023/04/03
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, Emanuel Berg, 2023/04/03
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, Richard Stallman, 2023/04/03
- Re: Arguing for a nilp function and where to put it, Emanuel Berg, 2023/04/05