Re: `max-specpdl-size' and `max-lisp-eval-depth'

[Stephen Berman]

On Tue, 28 Sep 2021 13:14:42 +0200 Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> wrote:

> Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net> writes:
>
>> The term goes back to the beginnings of Lisp (McCarthy's paper from
>> 1960, available via the Wayback Machine from
>> http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/recursive/node4.html):
>>
>>   In general (we shall discuss an exception), the routine for a
>>   recursive function uses itself as a subroutine [...] This possible
>>   conflict is resolved by the SAVE and UNSAVE routines that use the
>>   public push-down list.
>
> Perhaps we should put something about this in the `max-specpdl-size' doc
> string.  You wouldn't happen to know what the "spec" part is referring
> to?  :-)

I think that's from the Common Lisp term "special variable" for a global
(i.e. non-lexical) variable.  I don't know where that term originated,
maybe Maclisp.

Steve Berman