Re: Lisp, 50th Birthday
- From: howard yeh <hayeah@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 31 May 2008 12:06:26 -0700 (PDT)
On May 31, 11:30 am, Pascal Costanza <p...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
howard yeh wrote:
I suppose one could say that "first publication" of lisp is sort of
like saying "i am pregnant" without having given birth yet. First
implementation seems a closer analogy.
Depends. Is it the idea that counts, or is it a concrete implementation?
It can't be the latter because, well, Lisp 1.0 is no longer in use for
decades. So if we want to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lisp, I
think we actually want to celebrate the set of ideas that made Lisp a
successful design principle for a wide variety of languages and dialects.
Let me continue my silly analogy. I was born a baby, but the person I
am now is not using the body of the baby at time of birth. But the
actual delivery of that original bundle of flesh still marks the
precise date of birth.
But point taken about the set of ideas that make Lisp great is worth
celebrating.
However, when we celebrate Christmas, it's not the set of abstract
Christian ideas, but the actual person born in the manger. When we
celebrate Lisp, we don't want to talk about the "abstract" ideas, or
when the spirit entered into the fetus. We want to actual dropping
onto the laptop.
I feel like a sophist. Enough silliness :)
Anyway, why don't we just party both this and next year?!? Who cares
about the exact date...? ;-)
We the anti-intellectuals care.
.
- References:
- Lisp, 50th Birthday
- From: howard yeh
- Re: Lisp, 50th Birthday
- From: Zach Beane
- Re: Lisp, 50th Birthday
- From: howard yeh
- Re: Lisp, 50th Birthday
- From: Pascal Costanza
- Lisp, 50th Birthday
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